Rev protein from HIV bound to RNA from the "Rev binding element" (RBE)

First let's see RBE, the Rev binding element: it is an RNA. The fragment shown here, 30 nucleotides in length, forms a hairpin structure.

This RNA fragment is part of the gene that codes for the envelope glycoprotein of the human immunodeficiency virus HIV-1.

spacefilling, or spheres, model.

Now let's how the Rev protein tightly associates with the structure of RBE (only a 17-amino acid peptide of Rev is shown).

spacefilling, or spheres, model.