HIV and Human Proteins-Protein Interactions

The Human Immunodeficiency Virus is a retrovirus and has a genome size of about 9.5 Kb with repertoire of only 15-20 proteins. It is well known that HIV can't survive inside the human cell solely on its own proteome. It uses the host machinary to perform the vital cell survival and replication funtions. It has been found that HIV interacts with about 1500 Human proteins. These interactions are of two types : Direct (physical) and Indirect Inteactions. The direct interactions constitute about 40% whereas indirect interactions constitute about 60% of total HIV-Human Protein-Protein interactions (PPIs). Since HIV life cycle can be halted by inhibiting any essential protein interaction, a new method which can predict these physical interactions will be of high importance.