title: Expression of biologically active envelope glycoprotein from the acutely pathogenic simian immunodeficiency virus SIVsmmPBj.
abstract: The full-length envelope (env) gene from the most acutely pathogenic primate lentivirus described so far, the simian immunodeficiency virus SIVsmmPBj14 was expressed by a recombinant vaccinia virus vector (vv-env4) and was completely characterized as a previous step for its use as an immunogen in vaccination trials. Radioimmunoprecipitation and Western blot experiments indicated that SIVsmmPBj gp160 precursor was processed into gp120 and gp41 subunits, and that gp120 was released into the medium. Flow cytometry analysis showed that recombinant SIVsmmPBj was transported to and expressed on the surface of vvenv4-infected cells. Biochemical analysis of virus-like particles produced by coinfection of cells with recombinant vaccinia viruses expressing SIVsmmPBj Env (vv-env4) and Gag (vv-wtgag) proteins revealed that the Env glycoprotein was incorporated into core-like particles. Furthermore, cells expressing SIVsmmPBj env gene products were found to undergo fusion with the same CD4+ cell lines in which the whole provirus has been shown to form syncytia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology, University of Brussels (ULB), Rhode-St.-Genèse, Belgium.
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: González
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Affranchino
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Burny
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes; D002460:Cell Line; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000235:genetics; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D015870:Gene Expression; D015686:Gene Products, env / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D005814:Genes, Viral; D005822:Genetic Vectors; D015699:HIV Envelope Protein gp120 / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011499:Protein Processing, Post-Translational; D012191:Retroviridae Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D015302:Simian Immunodeficiency Virus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology / Q000472:pathogenicity; D014616:Vaccinia virus / Q000235:genetics; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins; D014765:Viral Vaccines / Q000302:isolation & purification
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D004279:DNA, Viral; D015686:Gene Products, env; D015699:HIV Envelope Protein gp120; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins; D012191:Retroviridae Proteins; C082614:SIV envelope protein gp41; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins; D014765:Viral Vaccines; C069623:gp120 protein, Simian immunodeficiency virus