title: Parental LTRs are important in a construct of a stable and efficient replication-competent infectious molecular clone of HIV-1 CRF08_BC.
abstract: Circulating recombinant forms (CRFs) of HIV-1 have been identified in southern China in recent years. CRF08_BC is one of the most predominant subtypes circulating in China. In order to study HIV subtype biology and to provide a tool for biotechnological applications, the first full-length replication-competent infectious molecular clone harboring CRF08_BC is reported. The construction of this clone pBRGX indicates that a moderate-copy number vector is required for its amplification in E. coli. In addition, it is shown that the parental CRF08_BC LTRs are important for generating this efficient replication-competent infectious clone. These observations may aid in the construction of infectious clones from other subtypes. Both the pBRGX-derived virus and its parental isolate contain CCR5 tropism. Their full-length genomes were also sequenced, analyzed, compared and deposited in GenBank (JF719819 and JF719818, respectively). The availability of pBRGX as the first replication-competent molecular clone of CRF08_BC provides a useful tool for a wide range of studies of this newly emergent HIV subtype, including the development of HIV vaccine candidates, antiviral drug screening and drug resistance analysis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China. zhang.qiwei@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Qiwei
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Xiaomin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Donald
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Seto
authors.forename: Hao-Jie
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Zhiwei
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Chengsong
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wan
authors.forename: Bo-Jian
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Zheng
mesh_terms: D019943:Amino Acid Substitution / Q000235:genetics; D001483:Base Sequence; D002999:Clone Cells; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D016679:Genome, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D015658:HIV Infections; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007700:Kinetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation / Q000235:genetics; D010802:Phylogeny; D010957:Plasmids / Q000235:genetics; D019713:Receptors, CCR5 / Q000378:metabolism; D011995:Recombination, Genetic / Q000235:genetics; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D020079:Terminal Repeat Sequences / Q000235:genetics*; D018523:Tropism / Q000235:genetics; D014779:Virus Replication / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral; D019713:Receptors, CCR5