Membrane binding and targetting of GAG proteins

One of the mysteries of Gag protein involvement in HIV virion assembly is how the proteins are targeted to the proper membrane for budding. Infectious retroviruses do not bud from all of the available membrane surfaces within an infected cell, but primarily from the plasma membrane, which constitutes a small proportion of the total membrane surface in most cells. In polarized cells, the sites of budding are further restricted to the basolateral membrane.

Gag蛋白在HIV病毒颗粒组装中的作用之一，乃是其如何被靶向至正确的膜进行芽生过程之奥秘。感染性逆转录病毒并非从感染细胞内所有可用的膜表面芽生，而是主要从质膜芽生，而在大多数细胞中，质膜仅占总体膜表面积的极小部分。在极化细胞中，芽生位点进一步受到限制，仅限于基底外侧膜。