Viruses 2009, 1, 873-894; doi:10.3390/v1030873 OPEN ACCESS viruses ISSN 1999-4915 www.mdpi.com/journal/viruses Review Reverse Transcriptase and Cellular Factors: Regulators of HIV-1 Reverse Transcription Kylie Warren 1,2, David Warrilow 1, Luke Meredith 1,3 and David Harrich 1,3,* 1 Division of Infectious Diseases, Queensland Institute of Medical Research, Brisbane, QLD, Australia; E-Mails:
[email protected] (K.W.);
[email protected] (D.W.);
[email protected] (L.M.) 2 School of Natural Sciences, University of Western Sydney, Hawkesbury, NSW, Australia 3 Griffith Medical Research College, a joint program of Griffith University and the Queensland Institute of Medical Research, QIMR, Herston, QLD, 4006, Australia * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail:
[email protected]; Tel.: +61-7-3845-36791; Fax: +61-7-3362-0107. Received: 30 September 2009; in revised form: 6 November 2009 / Accepted: 9 November 2009 / Published: 10 November 2009 Abstract: There is ample evidence that synthesis of HIV-1 proviral DNA from the viral RNA genome during reverse transcription requires host factors. However, only a few cellular proteins have been described in detail that affect reverse transcription and interact with reverse transcriptase (RT). HIV-1 integrase is an RT binding protein and a number of IN-binding proteins including INI1, components of the Sin3a complex, and Gemin2 affect reverse transcription. In addition, recent studies implicate the cellular proteins HuR, AKAP149, and DNA topoisomerase I in reverse transcription through an interaction with RT. In this review we will consider interactions of reverse transcription complex with viral and cellular factors and how they affect the reverse transcription process.