title: Construction of a high titer infectious HIV-1 subtype C proviral clone from South Africa.
abstract: The Human Immunodeficiency Virus type 1 (HIV-1) subtype C is currently the predominant subtype worldwide. Cell culture studies of Sub-Saharan African subtype C proviral plasmids are hampered by the low replication capacity of the resulting viruses, although viral loads in subtype C infected patients are as high as those from patients with subtype B. Here, we describe the sequencing and construction of a new HIV-1 subtype C proviral clone (pZAC), replicating more than one order of magnitude better than the previous subtype C plasmids. We identify the env-region for being the determinant for the higher viral titers and the pZAC Env to be M-tropic. This higher replication capacity does not lead to a higher cytotoxicity compared to previously described subtype C viruses. In addition, the pZAC Vpu is also shown to be able to down-regulate CD4, but fails to fully counteract CD317.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Virologie und Immunbiologie, Universität Würzburg, Versbacher Straße 7, 97078 Würzburg, Germany. graeme@sun.ac.za
authors.forename: Graeme B
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Jacobs
authors.forename: Stefanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bock
authors.forename: Anita
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schuch
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Moschall
authors.forename: Eva-Maria
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Schrom
authors.forename: Juliane
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zahn
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Reuter
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Preiser
authors.forename: Axel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rethwilm
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Engelbrecht
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kerkau
authors.forename: Jochen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bodem
mesh_terms: D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000821:virology*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011533:Proviruses / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000502:physiology; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013019:South Africa; D056189:Viral Tropism; D014779:Virus Replication
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral