Genetic complementation between replication-defective mutants of HIV-1 and SIVagm

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Abstract
To investigate the functional complementation of essential genes for virus growth between HIV-1 and SIVagm derived from African green monkeys, we co-transfected replication-defective molecular clones containing mutations ingag, pol, env, tat orrev, and monitored transient complementation by reverse transcriptase assay (RT), cytopathic effect (CPE) and immunofluorescence assay (IFA). The following results were obtained: 1) No complementation was observed in combinations of thegag andpol mutants. 2) Therev mutant of HIV-1 was minimally complemented by other SIVagm mutants, although therev mutant of SIVagm was significantly complemented by other HIV-1 mutants. 3) Among all combinations tested, theenv mutant of HIV-1 was the most effectively complemented by SIVagm mutants. 4) CPE was mostly absent in combinations of theenv mutant of SIVagm and thegag, pol ortat mutants of HIV-1, although there were significant positive results in RT and IFA assays. These findings provided basic information about the functional compatibility of pathogenic HIV-1 and nonpathogenic SIVagm which will be useful for generating chimeras of these two viruses.