The long terminal repeat is not a major determinant of the cellular tropism of human immunodeficiency virus type 1.
The long terminal repeats (LTRs) of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) strains from the central nervous systems of four patients with AIDS and of an HIV-1 isolate which is highly macrophage-tropic were isolated by using the polymerase chain reaction. In transient transfection assays, these LTRs demonstrated no significant difference in basal or stimulated levels of transcription in any of a variety of cell lines tested, compared with expression directed from the LTR of a T-lymphocyte-tropic strain of HIV-1. Chimeric viruses were created with the LTRs of the macrophage-tropic and brain-derived viruses ligated to the viral backbone from a T-lymphocyte-tropic strain. No change in cellular tropism was demonstrated with these chimeric viruses. Thus, unlike the LTRs of some murine retroviruses, the LTR of HIV-1 does not appear to play a major role in determining cellular tropism.
Pomerantz
R J
RJ
Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142.
Feinberg
M B
MB
Andino
R
R
Baltimore
D
D
D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000382:microbiology; D001483:Base Sequence; D001921:Brain / Q000382:microbiology*; D002460:Cell Line; D015500:Chloramphenicol O-Acetyltransferase / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D016325:HIV Long Terminal Repeat; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008264:Macrophages / Q000382:microbiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D015345:Oligonucleotide Probes; D010957:Plasmids; D014158:Transcription, Genetic; D014162:Transfection; D014779:Virus Replication
D015345:Oligonucleotide Probes; D015500:Chloramphenicol O-Acetyltransferase