Structural Basis for Species Selectivity in the HIV-1 gp120-CD4 Interaction: Restoring Affinity to gp120 in Murine CD4 Mimetic Peptides

Figure 2

Clashes of murine CD4 with gp120. (a) Overlay of the unbound mCD4 model onto the hCD4-gp120 complex structure 1RZJ [3]. (b) Close-up of the clash area. Clashes are predominantly found for residues in the loops flanking β-strand C″ (G48, G49, K42) and for V44. The respective loops are longer in mouse compared to human CD4 (cf. alignment Figure 1(a)). Strand C″ is labeled. hCD4, mCD4, and gp120 are colored white, blue, and pink, respectively. Clashing residues of mCD4 and gp120 are shown in blue and pink spacefill.