J. Singh*, L. Ronsard, M. Pandey, R. Kapoor, V.G. Ramachandran and A.C. Banerjea Pages 1 - 16 ( 16 )
Background: HIV-1 Nef is an important accessory protein with multiple effector functions. Genetic studies of HIV-1 Nef gene shows extensive genetic diversity and the functional studies have been carried out mostly with Nef derived from regions dominated by subtype B (North America & Europe).
Objective: This study was carried out to characterize genetic variations of the Nef gene from HIV-1 infected individuals from North-India and to find out their functional implications.
Methods: The unique representative variants were sub-cloned in eukaryotic expression vector and further characterized with respect to their ability to down regulate cell surface expression of CD4 and MHC-1molecules.
Results: The phylogenetic analysis of Nef variants revealed sequence similarity with either consensus subtype B or B/C recombinants. Boot scan analysis of some of our variants showed homology to B/C recombinant and some to wild type Nef B. Extensive variations were observed in most of the variants. The dN/dS ratio revealed 80% purifying selection and 20% diversifying selection implying the importance of mutations in Nef variants. Intracellular stability of Nef variants differed greatly when compared with wild type Nef B and C. There were some variants that possessed mutations in the functional domains of Nef and responsible for its differential CD4 and MHC-1 down regulation activity.
Conclusion: We observed enhanced biological activities in some of the variants, perhaps arising out of amino acid substitutions in their functional domains. The CD4 and MHC-1 down-regulation activity of Nef is likely to confer immense survival advantage allowing the most rare genotype in a population to become the most abundant after a single selection event.
Cluster of Differentiation-4 (CD4), functional domain, genetic variations, Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)
National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi, National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi, King George`s Medical University, Delhi University, New Delhi, Delhi University, New Delhi, Department of Virology, National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi-110067