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Amplifying and Quantifying HIV-1 RNA in HIV Infected Individuals with Viral Loads Below the Limit of Detection by Standard Clinical Assays
Published on: September 26, 2011
Evidence for gene expression by unintegrated human immunodeficiency virus type 1 DNA species
Audrey Brussel1, Pierre Sonigo
1Département des Maladies Infectieuses, Institut Cochin, INSERM U567, CNRS UMR 8104, Université René Descartes, 22 rue Méchain, 75014 Paris, France.
Abstract:
The integrated form of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) DNA is classically considered to be the sole template for viral gene expression. However, several studies have suggested that unintegrated viral DNA species could also support transcription. To determine the contribution of the different species of HIV-1 DNA to viral expression, we first monitored intracellular levels of various HIV-1 DNA and RNA species in a single-round infection assay. We observed that, in comparison to the precocity of HIV-1 DNA synthesis, viral expression was delayed, suggesting that only the HIV-1 DNA species that persist for a sufficient period of time would be transcribed efficiently. We next evaluated the transcriptional activity of the circular forms of HIV-1 DNA bearing two long terminal repeats, since these episomes were reported to exhibit an intrinsic molecular stability. Our results support the notion that these circular species of HIV-1 DNA are naturally transcribed during HIV-1 infection, thereby participating in virus replication.
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