Rapid complementation assay for anti-HIV-1 drug screening and analysis of envelope protein function

A complementation assay is described that can be used with relative safety to quantitate rapidly inhibitory effects of potential anti-HIV-1 drugs on virtually any stage of the HIV-1 life cycle by measurements of chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) activity. Of particular interest is that this system is also capable of detecting inhibition of the viral trans-activator Rev, an important potential target for drug intervention. Other applications of the system may include studies to identify domains of the envelope glycoprotein that determine infectivity and tropism or that define epitopes recognized by neutralization antibodies.