This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow E-mail this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Yedavalli, V. R. K.
Right arrow Articles by Ahmad, N.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Yedavalli, V. R. K.
Right arrow Articles by Ahmad, N.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

J Virol, August 1998, p. 6937-6943, Vol. 72, No. 8
0022-538X/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Maintenance of an Intact Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 vpr Gene following Mother-to-Infant Transmission

Venkat R. K. Yedavalli,1 Colombe Chappey,2 and Nafees Ahmad1,*

Department of Microbiology and Immunology, College of Medicine, The University of Arizona Health Sciences Center, Tucson, Arizona 85724,1 and National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 208942

Received 5 March 1998/Accepted 5 May 1998

The vpr sequences from six human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1)-infected mother-infant pairs following perinatal transmission were analyzed. We found that 153 of the 166 clones analyzed from uncultured peripheral blood mononuclear cell DNA samples showed a 92.17% frequency of intact vpr open reading frames. There was a low degree of heterogeneity of vpr genes within mothers, within infants, and between epidemiologically linked mother-infant pairs. The distances between vpr sequences were greater in epidemiologically unlinked individuals than in epidemiologically linked mother-infant pairs. Moreover, the infants' sequences displayed patterns similar to those seen in their mothers. The functional domains essential for Vpr activity, including virion incorporation, nuclear import, and cell cycle arrest and differentiation were highly conserved in most of the sequences. Phylogenetic analyses of 166 mother-infant pairs and 195 other available vpr sequences from HIV databases formed distinct clusters for each mother-infant pair and for other vpr sequences and grouped the six mother-infant pairs' sequences with subtype B sequences. A high degree of conservation of intact and functional vpr supports the notion that vpr plays an important role in HIV-1 infection and replication in mother-infant isolates that are involved in perinatal transmission.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, College of Medicine, The University of Arizona Health Sciences Center, Tucson, AZ 85724. Phone: (520) 626-7022. Fax: (520) 626-2100. E-mail: nafees{at}u.arizona.edu.

J Virol, August 1998, p. 6937-6943, Vol. 72, No. 8
0022-538X/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Sherman, M. P., de Noronha, C. M. C., Eckstein, L. A., Hataye, J., Mundt, P., Williams, S. A. F., Neidleman, J. A., Goldsmith, M. A., Greene, W. C. (2003). Nuclear Export of Vpr Is Required for Efficient Replication of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 in Tissue Macrophages. J. Virol. 77: 7582-7589 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Arganaraz, E., Cortes, M. J., Leibel, S., Lama, J. (2002). Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Vpr Protein Does Not Modulate Surface Expression of the CD4 Receptor. J. Virol. 76: 4125-4130 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Eckstein, D. A., Sherman, M. P., Penn, M. L., Chin, P. S., De Noronha, C. M.C., Greene, W. C., Goldsmith, M. A. (2001). HIV-1 Vpr Enhances Viral Burden by Facilitating Infection of Tissue Macrophages but Not Nondividing CD4+ T Cells. JEM 194: 1407-1419 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Sherman, M. P., de Noronha, C. M. C., Heusch, M. I., Greene, S., Greene, W. C. (2001). Nucleocytoplasmic Shuttling by Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Vpr. J. Virol. 75: 1522-1532 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Sherman, M. P., de Noronha, C. M. C., Pearce, D., Greene, W. C. (2000). Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Vpr Contains Two Leucine-Rich Helices That Mediate Glucocorticoid Receptor Coactivation Independently of Its Effects on G2 Cell Cycle Arrest. J. Virol. 74: 8159-8165 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


Copyright © 2010 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»