Rev-Rev Response Element Activity Selection Bias at the HIV Transmission Bottleneck.

ABSTRACT: HIV is not efficiently transmitted between hosts, and selection of viral variants occurs during the process of sexual transmission. The factors that confer selective advantage at the transmission bottleneck remain incompletely understood. We explored whether differences in the Rev-Rev Response Element (RRE) regulatory axis of HIV affect transmission fitness, since functional variation in the Rev-RRE axis in different viral isolates has been shown to affect replication kinetics and relative expression of many HIV proteins. Single genome HIV sequences were identified from nine linked subject pairs near the time of female-to-male transmission. Using a rapid flow-cytometric assay, we found that the functional Rev-RRE activity varied significantly between isolates. Moreover, it was generally lo

SUBMITTER: Jackson PEH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10104022 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature