Adaptation of HIV-1/HIV-2 Chimeras with Defects in Genome Packaging and Viral Replication.

Frequent recombination is a hallmark of retrovirus replication. In rare cases, recombination occurs between distantly related retroviruses, generating novel viruses that may significantly impact viral evolution and public health. These recombinants may initially have substantial replication defects due to impaired interactions between proteins and/or nucleic acids from the two parental viruses.

Unpaired Guanosines in the 5' Untranslated Region of HIV-1 RNA Act Synergistically To Mediate Genome Packaging.

The viral protein Gag selects full-length HIV-1 RNA from a large pool of mRNAs as virion genome during virus assembly. Currently, the precise mechanism that mediates the genome selection is not understood. Previous studies have identified several sites in the 5' untranslated region (5' UTR) of HIV-1 RNA that are bound by nucleocapsid (NC) protein, which is derived from Gag during virus maturation.