Commonly Elicited Antibodies against the Base of the HIV-1 Env Trimer Guide the Population-Level Evolution of a Structure-Regulating Region in gp41.

ABSTRACT: The antibody response against the HIV-1 envelope glycoproteins (Envs) guides evolution of this protein within each host. Whether antibodies with similar target specificities are elicited in different individuals and affect the population-level evolution of Env is poorly understood. To address this question, we analyzed properties of emerging variants in the gp41 fusion peptide-proximal region (FPPR) that exhibit distinct evolutionary patterns in HIV-1 clade B. For positions 534, 536, and 539 in the FPPR, alanine was the major emerging variant. However, 534A and 536A show a constant frequency in the population between 1979 and 2016, whereas 539A is gradually increasing. To understand the basis for these differences, we introduced alanine substitutions in the FPPR of primary HIV-1 strains an

SUBMITTER: Rojas Chavez RA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9278142 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature