Human and Simian Immunodeficiency Virus Capsid Proteins Are Major Viral Determinants of Early, Postentry Replication Blocks in Simian Cells

Open Access
Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The cells of most Old World monkey species exhibit early, postentry restrictions on infection by human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) but not by simian immunodeficiency virus of macaques (SIV mac ). Conversely, SIV mac , but not HIV-1, infection is blocked in most New World monkey cells. By using chimeric HIV-1/SIV mac viruses capable of a single round of infection, we demonstrated that a major viral determinant of this restriction is the capsid (CA) protein. The efficiency of early events following HIV-1 and SIV mac entry is apparently determined by the interaction of the incoming viral CA and species-specific host factors.