Prevention of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 integrase expression in Escherichia coli by a ribozyme.

Ribozymes are potentially very powerful agents for perturbing intracellular gene expression. However, pilot experiments in eukaryotes have met with mixed success. We now report that a ribozyme designed to cleave the integrase gene of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), when transcribed from a plasmid in Escherichia coli, led to destruction of integrase RNA and complete blockage of integrase protein synthesis. These results indicate that ribozymes can be used to study intracellular gene expression in bacteria and that the HIV-1 integrase gene may be a useful target for therapeutic ribozymes.