Studies of Genetic Variation in the AIDS Virus: Relevance to DiseasePathogenesis, Anti-Viral Therapy, and Vaccine Development

摘要

Molecular analyses of HIV-1, HIV-2 and SIV obtained by virus culture, by lambdaphage cloning from uncultured patient tissues, and by PCR (polymerase chain reaction) amplification promise to yield important and novel insights into the pathogenesis of these viruses. In year 03, work was undertaken to sequence and characterize a full-length transfection competent clone of HIV-2 (JSP4-27) representing the first bona fide attenuates strain of HIV-2 from Senegal, West Africa, to develop generic (universal) oligonucleotide primer pairs and nested PCR amplification techniques for the identification of novel strains of HIV-2 and SIV in uncultured blood mononuclear cells, and to clone and characterize by lambda and PCR approaches HIV-1 from uncultured human brain. The results of these studies reported herein provide the first molecular characterization of an attenuated HIV-2 strain lacking syncytia forming properties and shows the alterations in the putative N-terminal fusion domain are not responsible for this phenotype. Secondly, the results demonstrate the successful development and use of generic PCR amplification to identify, clone, and sequence a novel subgroup of SIV viruses. Keywords: HIV, AIDS, Virology. (js)