De novo reverse transcription is a crucial event in cell-to-cell transmission of human immunodeficiency virus

Abstract
The proposal that replication of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), mediated by cell-to-cell transmission of the virus, might bypass de novo reverse transcription was tested by using one-step cell-to-cell and cell-free virus infection systems. Two well characterized reverse transcriptase (RT) inhibitors, azidothymidine at 20 µm and phosphonoformic acid at 100 µg/ml, blocked HIV replication completely following both cell-free virus and cell-to-cell transmission infection, as determined from the kinetics of unintegrated viral DNA synthesis and supernatant RT production after virus infection. Our results confirm that de novo reverse transcription is a crucial and mandatory event in HIV-1 replication following cell-to-cell transmission of the virus.

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