See instmctions): In this continuation application/progress report for an R37 MERIT Award, the progress on the two major specific aims is reviewed. The overall goal of the work is to use HIV-1 sequence diversity to examine the biological determinants of transmission and pathogenesis. These studies will inform our understanding of the transmission and disease processes.
The first aim covering the study of samples from an HIV-1 vertical transmission cohort Is nearing completion. A major feature of the remaining work is to create molecular clones of the env genes from maternal and infant viral populations to test the rote of autologous neutralizing antibodies in vertical transmission. This work will test the hypothesis that a neutralization escape variant is responsible for vertical transmission. In addition, these studies will reveal the complexity of the virus in vertical transmission and provide reagents to study other biological properties of the transmitted virus.
The second aim on horizontal transmission is still awaiting the availability of samples from people in acute infection from southem Braal. Given progress in the field this aim is now refined to focus on the question of the relative fitness of subtype B and subtype C viruses Involved in acute infection and coclrculating in the same population. This analysis is designed to address the question of whether differences in relative viral fitness play a role in the subtype B and C epidemics. Studies in viral diversity are in part framed by the technology available to study that diversity. Two important and complementary technologies for studying diversity are the heteroduplex tracking assay (HTA) and the single genome amplification (SGA) approach. The new technology of deep sequencing has not been approriately applied to the study of viral diversity due to intrinsic problems of PCR resampling. A new strategy will be applied to overcome this problem to allow the accurate use of this new technology to study viral diversity using HIV as the test case This will provide a third complementary approach to the study of viral diversity. The application of these strategies in ways that could inform clinical care will also be explored. Finally, collaborative opportunities have been developed to study viral evolution in a humanized mouse model and under the influence of AP0BEC3G/F and will be continued.

Public Health Relevance

(See Instmctions): HIV sequence diversity is a rich source of biological infonnation about the selective pressures placed on the virus and changes in virus-host interactions. We are using viral sequence diversity to explore questions important for vertical and horizontal transmission and the evolution of pathogenic variants after transmission. In addition, we continue to develop new technologies to derive more information from complex viral populations. These efforts shed light on important virologic features of transmission and evolution. PROJECT/PERFOI^MANCE SiTE(S) (if addifional space is needed, use Project/Perfonnance Site Fonnat Page)

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
Type
Method to Extend Research in Time (MERIT) Award (R37)
Project #
3R37AI044667-10S1
Application #
8076423
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (NSS)
Program Officer
Sharma, Opendra K
Project Start
2010-07-01
Project End
2011-06-30
Budget Start
2010-07-01
Budget End
2011-06-30
Support Year
10
Fiscal Year
2010
Total Cost
$111,000
Indirect Cost
Name
University of North Carolina Chapel Hill
Department
Biochemistry
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
608195277
City
Chapel Hill
State
NC
Country
United States
Zip Code
27599
Emery, Ann; Zhou, Shuntai; Pollom, Elizabeth et al. (2017) Characterizing HIV-1 Splicing by Using Next-Generation Sequencing. J Virol 91:
Eshleman, Susan H; Hudelson, Sarah E; Redd, Andrew D et al. (2017) Treatment as Prevention: Characterization of Partner Infections in the HIV Prevention Trials Network 052 Trial. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr 74:112-116
Miller, Caitlin M; Akiyama, Hisashi; Agosto, Luis M et al. (2017) Virion-Associated Vpr Alleviates a Postintegration Block to HIV-1 Infection of Dendritic Cells. J Virol 91:
Lewis Jr, Charles A; Crayle, Jesse; Zhou, Shuntai et al. (2016) Cytosine deamination and the precipitous decline of spontaneous mutation during Earth's history. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 113:8194-9
Zhou, Shuntai; Bednar, Maria M; Sturdevant, Christa B et al. (2016) Deep Sequencing of the HIV-1 env Gene Reveals Discrete X4 Lineages and Linkage Disequilibrium between X4 and R5 Viruses in the V1/V2 and V3 Variable Regions. J Virol 90:7142-58
Joseph, Sarah B; Arrildt, Kathryn T; Sturdevant, Christa B et al. (2015) HIV-1 target cells in the CNS. J Neurovirol 21:276-89
Arrildt, Kathryn T; LaBranche, Celia C; Joseph, Sarah B et al. (2015) Phenotypic Correlates of HIV-1 Macrophage Tropism. J Virol 89:11294-311
Keys, Jessica R; Zhou, Shuntai; Anderson, Jeffrey A et al. (2015) Primer ID Informs Next-Generation Sequencing Platforms and Reveals Preexisting Drug Resistance Mutations in the HIV-1 Reverse Transcriptase Coding Domain. AIDS Res Hum Retroviruses 31:658-68
Joseph, Sarah B; Swanstrom, Ronald; Kashuba, Angela D M et al. (2015) Bottlenecks in HIV-1 transmission: insights from the study of founder viruses. Nat Rev Microbiol 13:414-25
Cope, Anna B; Powers, Kimberly A; Kuruc, JoAnn D et al. (2015) Ongoing HIV Transmission and the HIV Care Continuum in North Carolina. PLoS One 10:e0127950

Showing the most recent 10 out of 39 publications