SIV proviruses seeded later in infection are harbored in short-lived CD4⁺ T cells.

ABSTRACT: The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) can persist in a latent form as integrated DNA (provirus) in resting CD4⁺ T cells unaffected by antiretroviral therapy. Despite being a major obstacle for eradication efforts, it remains unclear which infected cells survive, persist, and ultimately enter the long-lived reservoir. Here, we determine the genetic divergence and integration times of simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) envelope sequences collected from infected macaques. We show that the proviral divergence and the phylogenetically estimated integration times display a biphasic decline over time. Investigating the dynamics of the mutational distributions, we show that SIV genomes in short-lived cells are, on average, more diverged, while long-lived cells contain less diverged vi

SUBMITTER: Sambaturu N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12160121 | biostudies-literature | 2025 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature