Molecular and genetic characterization of natural HIV-1 Tat Exon-1 variants from North India and their functional implications.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Designing an ideal vaccine against HIV-1 has been difficult due to enormous genetic variability as a result of high replication rate and lack of proofreading activity of reverse transcriptase leading to emergence of genetic variants and recombinants. Tat transactivates HIV-1 LTR, resulting in a remarkable increase in viral gene expression, and plays a vital role in pathogenesis. The aim of this study was to characterize the genetic variations of Tat exon-1 from HIV-1 infected patients from North India.

Methods

Genomic DNA was isolated from PBMCs and Tat exon-1 was PCR amplified with specific primers followed by cloning, sequencing and sequence analyses using bioinformatic tools for predicting HIV-1 subtypes, recombination events, conservation of domains and phosph

SUBMITTER: Ronsard L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3900424 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature