title: Role of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 envelope gene in viral fitness.
abstract: A human host offers a variety of microenvironments to the infecting human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), resulting in various selective pressures, most of them directed against the envelope (env) gene. Therefore, it seems evident that the replicative capacity of the virus is largely related to viral entry. In this study we have used growth competition experiments and TaqMan real-time PCR detection to measure the fitness of subtype B HIV-1 primary isolates and autologous env-recombinant viruses in order to analyze the contribution of wild-type env sequences to overall HIV-1 fitness. A significant correlation was observed between fitness values obtained for wild-type HIV-1 isolates and those for the corresponding env-recombinant viruses (r = 0.93; P = 0.002). Our results suggest that the env gene, which is linked to a myriad of viral characteristics (e.g., entry into the host cell, transmission, coreceptor usage, and tropism), plays a major role in fitness of wild-type HIV-1. In addition, this new recombinant assay may be useful for measuring the contribution of HIV-1 env to fitness in viruses resistant to novel antiretroviral entry inhibitors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Virology, Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, OH 44195, USA.
authors.forename: Hector R
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Rangel
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Weber
authors.forename: Bikram
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Chakraborty
authors.forename: Arantxa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gutierrez
authors.forename: Michael L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Marotta
authors.forename: Muneer
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mirza
authors.forename: Patti
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kiser
authors.forename: Miguel A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Martinez
authors.forename: Jose A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Este
authors.forename: Miguel E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Quiñones-Mateu
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D017931:DNA Primers; D015752:Genes, env; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers