In vivo Serial Passaging of Human-Simian Immunodeficiency Virus Clones Identifies Characteristics for Persistent Viral Replication.

ABSTRACT: We previously reported that a human immunodeficiency virus type 1 with a simian immunodeficiency virus vif substitution (HSIV-vif_NL4-3) could replicate in pigtailed macaques (PTMs), demonstrating that Vif is a species-specific tropism factor of primate lentiviruses. However, infections did not result in high-peak viremia or setpoint plasma viral loads, as observed during simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) infection of PTMs. Here, we characterized variants isolated from one of the original infected animals with CD4 depletion after nearly 4years of infection to identify determinants of increased replication fitness. In our studies, we found that the HSIV-vif clones did not express the HIV-1 Vpr protein due to interference from the vpx open reading frame (ORF) in sin

SUBMITTER: Thippeshappa R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8636705 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature