Selective transmission of human immunodeficiency virus type-1 variants from mothers to infants

S M Wolinsky1, C M Wike, B T Korber

  • 1Department of Medicine, Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago, IL 60611.

Science (New York, N.Y.)
|February 28, 1992
PubMed

Multiple human immunodeficiency virus type-1 sequences from the V3 and V4-V5 regions of the envelope gene were analyzed from three mother-infant pairs. The infants' viral sequences were less diverse than those of their mothers. In two pairs, a proviral form infrequently found in the mother predominated in her infant. A conserved N-linked glycosylation site within the V3 region, present in each mother's sequence set, was absent in all of the infants' sequence sets. These findings demonstrate that a minor subset of maternal virus is transmitted to the infant.

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