HIV-1 Protease Inhibitor Screening Kit (Fluorometric)

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is the cause of the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). HIV-1 protease is a retroviral aspartyl protease (retropepsin) that is essential for the life-cycle of the virus as it cleaves newly synthesized polyproteins at the appropriate places to create the mature protein components of an infectious HIV virion. Without effective HIV-1 protease, HIV virions remain non-infectious. BioVision’s HIV-1 Protease Inhibitor Screening kit utilizes the ability of active HIV-1 protease to cleave a synthetic peptide substrate resulting in the release of free fluorophore, which can be easily quantified using a fluorometer or fluorescence microplate reader. In the presence of a HIV-1 Protease inhibitor, the cleavage of the substrate is reduced/abolished resulting in decrease or total loss of the fluorescence. This simple and high-throughput adaptable assay kit can be used to screen/study/characterize potential inhibitors of HIV-1 Protease.