Molecular characterization of human immunodeficiency virus from Zaire: nucleotide sequence analysis identifies conserved and variable domains in the envelope gene

• Published in: Gene Vol. 52; no. 1; pp. 71 - 82
• Main Authors: Srinivasan, A., Anand, R., York, D., Ranganathan, P., Feorino, P., Schochetman, G., Curran, J., Kalyanaraman, V.S., Luciw, P.A., Sanchez-Pescador, R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Lausanne Elsevier B.V 1987; Amsterdam Elsevier; New York, NY
• Subjects: Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome - microbiology; African AIDS; AIDS/HIV; Amino Acid Sequence; Base Sequence; Biological and medical sciences; cloning; Democratic Republic of the Congo; DNA - metabolism; DNA Restriction Enzymes; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Genes; Genes, Viral; Genetics; HIV - genetics; HIV - isolation & purification; human immunodeficiency virus; Humans; lymphoid cells; Microbiology; Recombinant DNA; restriction mapping; Transfection; Viral Envelope Proteins - genetics; Virology; λ phage vectors; Democratic Republic of the Congo; LAV; Km; ORF; ARV; nt; PHA; Recombinant DNA; LTR; Env; bp; Ap; R; kb; PBL; aa; SSC; SDS; African AIDS; AIDS; gp; λ phage vectors; restriction mapping; ARC; HIV; HTLV; lymphoid cells; cloning; Human; Lymphoid cell; Nucleotide sequence; Africa; Retroviridae; Secondary structure; Biological activity; Virus; Conserved sequence; Cell line; Transfection; Gene; Zaire; DNA; Restriction map; Human immunodeficiency virus; Molecular cloning; Virus envelope; Clinical isolate; Comparative study; Geographical variation
• ISSN: 0378-1119; 1879-0038
• DOI: 10.1016/0378-1119(87)90396-9

To examine the genetic relatedness of human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) from different geographic locations, we molecularly cloned the genome of HIV isolated from a Zairian AIDS patient. Restriction mapping of the recombinant clone, designated HIV-Zr6, revealed both common (as observed in other HIV isolates) and unique restriction sites. The DNA clone of HIV-Zr6, shown to give rise to infectious cytopathic virus after transfection of cultured lymphoid cells, was sequenced in several regions. The long terminal repeat (LTR), open reading frame 1 (ORF1), C-terminal envelope ( env) gene domain, and ORF2 showed less than 6% difference in nucleotide sequence when compared to other HIV isolates including human T-lymphotropic virus-type III (HTLV-III) clone BIO, lymphadenopathy-associated virus-1 (LAV-1), and AIDS-associated retrovirus-2 (ARV-2). About 15% difference in nucleotide sequences was noted in the N-terminal env gene domain. Alignments of en v gene sequences revealed conserved, moderately variable, and hypervariable stretches in the predicted amino acid sequences. This model provides a basis for assessing the significance of sequence variation on properties controlled by the viral Env glycoproteins such as cell tropism and immunogenicity.