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Updated: Jul 7, 2026
A Restriction Enzyme Based Cloning Method to Assess the In vitro Replication Capacity of HIV-1 Subtype C Gag-MJ4 Chimeric Viruses
Published on: August 31, 2014
Construction and characterization of an infectious molecular clone of HIV type 1 CRF07_BC
Zhefeng Meng1, Xiang He, Hui Xing
1State Key Laboratory for Infection Diseases Prevention and Control, National Center for AIDS/STD Control and Prevention (NCAIDS), Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC), Beijing, P.R. China 100050.
Abstract:
HIV-1 CRF07_BC constitutes a large fraction of HIV-1 strains circulating in China and is responsible for the rapidly expanding epidemic across the country. Little is known about the biological characteristics of the CRF07_BC viruses, particularly the propensity by which this circulating recombinant form of HIV replicates within an infected individual. In this study, a near-full-length genome of a CRF07_BC virus from an injecting drug user (IDU) from the Xingjiang region in China was cloned and rescued by the functional 5' LTR (long terminal repeat region) and 3' LTR from pNL4-3 to produce a chimeric infectious molecular clone (NLXJDC6441X2). When cultured in interleukin-2-stimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and the Ghost.R5 cell line, NLXJDC6441X2 produced a lower replication yield than expected. More study is needed to explore the key role that leads to the poor infectious activity of NLXJDC6441X2. This study has produced the first isolation of the HIV-1 CRF07_BC DNA clone and has provided a versatile molecular model for research focusing on the biological properties of this subtype.
