Coordinate linkage of HIV evolution reveals regions of immunological vulnerability.

ABSTRACT: Cellular immune control of HIV is mediated, in part, by induction of single amino acid mutations that reduce viral fitness, but compensatory mutations limit this effect. Here, we sought to determine if higher order constraints on viral evolution exist, because some coordinately linked combinations of mutations may hurt viability. Immune targeting of multiple sites in such a multidimensionally conserved region might render the virus particularly vulnerable, because viable escape pathways would be greatly restricted. We analyzed available HIV sequences using a method from physics to reveal distinct groups of amino acids whose mutations are collectively coordinated ("HIV sectors"). From the standpoint of mutations at individual sites, one such group in Gag is as conserved as other collectivel

SUBMITTER: Dahirel V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3136285 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature