Multidrug-resistant variants of HIV type 1 (HIV-1) can exist in cells as defective quasispecies and be rescued by superinfection with other defective HIV-1 variants.
A tissue culture cell line infected with multidrug-resistant (MDR) human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) produced only noninfectious particles because of a lethal mutation in env. The defective MDR provirus was rescued by superinfection with either wild-type HIV-1 or a second replication-defective virus lethally mutated in capsid. Drug-resistance phenotyping revealed that the MDR viruses dominated if even single reverse-transcriptase inhibitors were present, reflecting linkage of the various drug resistance mutations on a single viral nucleic acid backbone. These results are most likely attributable to recombination during second rounds of infection and suggest that defective HIV-1 variants may nonetheless constitute part of the HIV-1 reservoir.
Quan
Yudong
Y
McGill AIDS Centre-Jewish General Hospital, Quebec, Canada.
Liang
Chen
C
Brenner
Bluma G
BG
Wainberg
Mark A
MA
D002460:Cell Line; D003673:Defective Viruses / Q000235:genetics*; D024921:Drug Resistance, Multiple, Viral / Q000235:genetics*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D012194:RNA-Directed DNA Polymerase / Q000235:genetics*; D011995:Recombination, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D018894:Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors; D015163:Superinfection
D018894:Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors; D012194:RNA-Directed DNA Polymerase