Hydrophobic substitutions in the first residue of the CRAC segment of the gp41 protein of HIV

The peptides N-acetyl-AWYIK-amide and N-acetyl-VWYIK-amide corresponding to single amino acid substitutions in LWYIK are examined. The results have shown that the mode of interaction of this region of gp41 with the polar heads of membrane lipids have contributed to its cholesterol selectivity and is related to the biological activity of the viral glycoprotein.