title: A human immunodeficiency virus type 1-infected individual with low viral load harbors a virus variant that exhibits an in vitro RNA dimerization defect.
abstract: We investigated the in vitro RNA dimerization properties of the untranslated leader RNA derived from human immunodeficiency virus type 1 variants circulating in an individual with a low viral load and slow disease progression. The leader sequences of these viruses contain highly unusual polymorphisms within the dimerization initiation site (DIS): an insert that abolishes dimerization and a compensatory substitution. The dimerization of leader RNA from late stages of infection is further improved by additional mutations outside the DIS motif that facilitate a secondary structure switch from a dimerization-incompetent to a dimerization-competent RNA conformation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Retrovirology, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Hendrik
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Huthoff
authors.forename: Atze T
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Das
authors.forename: Monique
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vink
authors.forename: Bep
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Klaver
authors.forename: Fokla
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zorgdrager
authors.forename: Marion
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cornelissen
authors.forename: Ben
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Berkhout
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D019281:Dimerization; D014644:Genetic Variation; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000821:virology; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D019562:Viral Load
chemical_list: D012367:RNA, Viral