Virion with gp41 fusion peptide in insertion complex Virion with fusogenically activated gp41 Insertion of gp41 fusion peptide into the target membrane Authored: Morrow, MP, Bukrinsky, M, 2006-03-07 21:26:47 Edited: Gopinathrao, G, 2006-02-17 18:35:46 Insertion of the N-terminal fusion peptide of the HIV gp41 protein is the first step in the fusion of viral and target cell membranes. Substitutions of polar amino acids at residues 2, 9, 15 and 26 of the N terminus of this peptide completely eliminated its ability to cause fusion, implicating these residues in gp41’s role in insertion and fusion. Studies have also shown that mutations in a stretch of residues from 36-64(568 to 596 of ENV protein) caused gp41 to become partially or completely defective in mediating membrane fusion, suggesting that conformation of the peptide is important for proper insertion and fusion to occur. Pubmed1438243 Pubmed2191297 Pubmed8373393 Pubmed8474172 Reactome Database ID Release 43164521 Reactome, http://www.reactome.org ReactomeREACT_8020 Reviewed: Reeves, J, 2006-06-12 15:22:40