Effect of a protease inhibitor-induced genetic bottleneck on human immunodeficiency virus type 1 env gene populations.

ABSTRACT: The initiation of drug therapy or the addition of a new drug to preexisting therapy can have a significant impact on human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) populations within a person. Drug therapy directed at reverse transcriptase and protease can result in dramatic decreases in virus load, causing a contraction in the virus population that represents a potential genetic bottleneck as a subset of virus with genomes carrying resistance mutations repopulate the host. While this bottleneck exerts an effect directly on the region that is being targeted by the drugs, it also affects other regions of the viral genome. We have applied heteroduplex tracking assays (HTA) specific to variable regions 1 and 2 (V1/V2) and variable region 3 (V3) of the HIV-1 env gene to analyze the effect of a ge

SUBMITTER: Kitrinos KM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1182671 | biostudies-literature | 2005 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature