Gag

A gag is usually an item or device designed to prevent speech, often as a restraint device to stop the subject from calling for help and keep its wearer quiet. This is usually done by blocking the mouth, partially or completely, or attempting to prevent the tongue, lips, or jaw from moving in the normal patterns of speech. They are often less effective in reality than in crime fiction. They carry a strong risk of killing the victim by suffocation. The more "effective" a gag appears to be, the more hazardous it is: for example, duct tape is fairly effective but is hazardous if for some reason (e.g., the common cold) the subject cannot breathe freely through the nose.

The use of gags is commonly depicted in crime fiction, particularly in comics and novels. It is also often used in movies, such as Raiders of the Lost Ark and its sequel Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Very rarely, courts have been known to gag unruly defendants; Bobby Seale was the most famous case.

Occasionally a cloth over-the-mouth gag is used not to prevent speech but to keep dust and aerosols out of the lungs.

Group-specific antigen

Group-specific antigen, or gag, is the genetic material that codes for the core structural proteins of a retrovirus.

It comprises part of the gag-inc fusion protein.

Gag in HIV

Numbering System

By convention, the HIV genome is numbered according to HIV subtype B reference strain HXB2.

Transcription and mRNA Processing

After a virus enters a target cell, the viral genome is integrated into the host cell chromatin. RNA polymerase II then transcribes the 9719 nucleotide full-length viral RNA. HIV Gag protein is encoded by the HIV gag gene, HXB2 nucleotides 790-2292.

MA

The HIV p17 matrix protein (MA) is a 17 kDa protein, of 132 amino acids, which comprises the N-terminus of the Gag polyprotein. It is responsible for targeting Gag polyprotein to the plasma membrane via interaction with PI(4,5)P2 through its highly basic region (HBR). HIV MA also makes contacts with the HIV trans-membrane glycoprotein gp41 in the assembled virus and, indeed, may have a critical role in recruiting Env glycoproteins to viral budding sites.

Gag (BDSM)

A gag is a device sometimes worn during sexual bondage and BDSM roleplay. Gags are usually associated with roleplays involving bondage, but that is not necessarily the case. The person who wears the gag is regarded as the submissive partner, while the one not wearing one is regarded as the dominant one.

People may wear gags for a variety of reasons. Some people derive erotic pleasure from a gag, either in a submissive or dominant role. When combined with other physical restraints, the wearing of a gag can increase the wearer's sense of helplessness and anxiety level within a BDSM scene, by depriving them of a means to influence the progress of a sexual activity through speech. Some people enjoy the feeling of surrendering the ability to speak to another person in an activity.

For some people, gags have connotations of punishment and control, and thus can be used as a form of humiliation. To some, wearing a gag without restraints is still an act of humiliation, as is an open mouth gag. Some fetishists are sexually aroused by the sound gagged people make when they try to speak, or by seeing a person drool uncontrollably.