POM121 regulates lentiviral nuclear import in a capsid-host factor-dependent manner

POM121 selectively regulates HIV-1 nuclear entry, and its depletion impairs infection in multiple cell lines and primary CD4+ T cells while enhancing EIAV infection.

• Why it matters: Lentiviral access to the nucleus depends on capsid–nucleoporin interactions, but which nucleoporins selectively control nuclear import across lentiviruses remained unclear.
• What they did: Unbiased proteomic screens identified capsid-associated NUPs including POM121; depletion assays tested HIV-1 versus EIAV, and capsid mutants plus CypA/CPSF6 perturbations mapped dependence.
• The result: POM121 loss reduced HIV-1 nuclear accumulation and disrupted nuclear import of other viral and cellular cargo, with HIV-1 dependence abolished by CypA loss and only partially rescued by CPSF6 depletion.

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