title: The nef gene of simian immunodeficiency virus SIVmac1A11.
abstract: The role of the simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) nef gene in viral replication was investigated in several tissue culture systems. SIVmac1A11 is a molecularly cloned virus which replicates in both peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and macrophages, although no disease is observed in infected rhesus macaques. In this report, we demonstrate that SIVmac1A11 contains a full open reading frame for nef which specifies a 37-kDa protein. To investigate the effects of nef on viral replication, a 70-bp deletion was introduced into the nef gene of SIVmac1A11. Analysis of infected cell extracts by immunoblotting revealed that both SIVmac1A11 and nef deletion virus SIVmac1A11 delta nef produced the same viral proteins, except that Nef was absent in the mutant virus. The deletion mutation did not affect viral replication in PBMC, in monocyte-derived and alveolar macrophages obtained from rhesus macaques, and in human cell lines HUT-78 and CEMx-174. In addition, SIVmac1A11 and SIVmac1A11 delta nef exhibited similar patterns of cytopathologic changes and ultrastructural appearances in infected cells. SIVmac1A11 and SIVmac1A11 delta nef did not infect human tumor macrophage cell line U937, GCT, THP-1, or HL-60 cells, although virus was produced after these cells were transfected with either wild-type or nef mutant viral DNA. Similar levels of virus were recovered from U937 and THP-1 cells transfected with mutant and parental proviral DNAs. In transient expression assays in a T-cell line and a macrophage line, the nef protein of SIVmac1A11 did not significantly suppress or enhance expression of the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase reporter gene linked to the SIVmac long terminal repeat. Thus, abrogation of nef did not affect several in vitro properties of SIVmac1A11, including patterns of viral infection in rhesus PBMC, rhesus macrophages, or human T-cell lines.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Pathology, University of California, Davis 95616.
authors.forename: R E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Unger
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Marthas
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pratt-Lowe
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Padrid
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Luciw
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D015693:Gene Products, nef / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D015754:Genes, nef; D006801:Humans; D008253:Macaca mulatta; D008264:Macrophages / Q000382:microbiology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016296:Mutagenesis; D009928:Organ Specificity; D015302:Simian Immunodeficiency Virus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development / Q000472:pathogenicity; D015533:Transcriptional Activation; D014162:Transfection; D014774:Virulence; D014779:Virus Replication
chemical_list: D015693:Gene Products, nef