title: Understanding restriction factors and intrinsic immunity: insights and lessons from the primate lentiviruses.
abstract: Primate lentiviruses include the HIVs, HIV-1 and HIV-2; the SIVs, which are endemic to more than 40 species of nonhuman primates in Africa; and SIVmac, an AIDS-causing pathogen that emerged in US macaque colonies in the 1970s. Because of the worldwide spread of HIV and AIDS, primate lentiviruses have been intensively investigated for more than 30 years. Research on these viruses has played a leading role in the discovery and characterization of intrinsic immunity, and in particular the identification of several antiviral effectors (also known as restriction factors) including APOBEC3G, TRIM5α, BST-2/tetherin and SAMHD1. Comparative studies of the primate lentiviruses and their hosts have proven critical for understanding both the evolutionary significance and biological relevance of intrinsic immunity, and the role intrinsic immunity plays in governing viral host range and interspecies transmission of viruses in nature.
authors.affiliation: Biology Department, Boston College, 550 Higgins Hall, 140 Commonwealth Ave., Chestnut Hill, MA 02467, USA.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kirmaier
authors.affiliation: Biology Department, Boston College, 550 Higgins Hall, 140 Commonwealth Ave., Chestnut Hill, MA 02467, USA ; Institut für Klinische und Molekulare Virologie, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität, Erlangen-Nuremberg, Schlossgarten 4, 91054 Erlangen, Germany.
authors.forename: Annabel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Krupp
authors.affiliation: Biology Department, Boston College, 550 Higgins Hall, 140 Commonwealth Ave., Chestnut Hill, MA 02467, USA.
authors.forename: Welkin E
authors.initials: WE
authors.lastname: Johnson
keywords: APOBEC3G; BST-2/tetherin; HIV; SAMHD1; SIV; TRIM5; cross-species transmission; emerging viruses; host genetics; intrinsic immunity; primate lentiviruses; restriction factor