HIV-1 Gag-Pol sequences from Ugandan early infections reveal sequence variants associated with elevated replication capacity

Kapaata, A. et al. (2021) HIV-1 Gag-Pol sequences from Ugandan early infections reveal sequence variants associated with elevated replication capacity. Viruses, 13(2), 171. (doi: 10.3390/v13020171) (PMID:33498793) (PMCID:PMC7912664)

Abstract

The ability to efficiently establish a new infection is a critical property for human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1). Although the envelope protein of the virus plays an essential role in receptor binding and internalization of the infecting virus, the structural proteins, the polymerase and the assembly of new virions may also play a role in establishing and spreading viral infection in a new host. We examined Ugandan viruses from newly infected patients and focused on the contribution of the Gag-Pol genes to replication capacity. A panel of Gag-Pol sequences generated using single genome amplification from incident HIV-1 infections were cloned into a common HIV-1 NL4.3 pol/env backbone and the influence of Gag-Pol changes on replication capacity was monitored. Using a novel protein domain approach, we then documented diversity in the functional protein domains across the Gag-Pol region and identified differences in the Gag-p6 domain that were frequently associated with higher in vitro replication.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: : This work was supported by IAVI and was made possible by generous support from many donors including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, Irish Aid, the Ministry of Finance of Japan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD), the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The full list of IAVI donors is available at www.iavi.org. The study was also supported in part by the Yerkes National primate research Centre base grant through the office of Research infrastructure programs/OD P51OD11132.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Cotten, Professor Matthew

Creator Roles

Cotten, M.: Software, Formal analysis, Resources, Data curation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review and editing, Visualization, Supervision

• Authors: Kapaata, A., Balinda, S. N., Xu, R., Salazar, M. G., Herard, K., Brooks, K., Laban, K., Hare, J., Dilernia, D., Kamali, A., Ruzagira, E., Mukasa, F., Gilmour, J., Salazar-Gonzalez, J. F., Yue, L., Cotten, M., Hunter, E., and Kaleebu, P.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Infection & Immunity; College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Infection & Immunity > Centre for Virus Research
• Journal Name: Viruses
• Publisher: MDPI
• ISSN: 1999-4915
• ISSN (Online): 1999-4915
• Published Online: 23 January 2021
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2021 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Viruses 13(2): 171
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License