Characterization of a synthetic infectious cloned DNA of simian foamy virus serotype 1

A virus stock of a cloned infectious DNA of simian foamy virus serotype 1 (SFV-1) was obtained in M. dunni cells (designated as pSFV-MD). The kinetics of replication were similar to the parent uncloned SFV-MD stock in M. dunni cells and in FRhK-4 cells, but in Vero cells, pSFV-MD showed a similar level of reverse transcriptase activity, but a faster progression of CPE. HTS variant analysis of pSFV-MD and SFV-MD passaged through Vero cells showed accumulation of G-to-A mutations in the bel2 and tas genes. Some of the mutations created stop codons, truncating Tas and Bet proteins. The generation of genomic variants in SFV-1 was identified by passaging the pSFV-MD genetically homogenous virus stock in Vero cells. The accumulation of APOBEC SNVs in the SFV-1 genome highlights the species-specific interactions of Bet and APOBEC proteins since the macaque SFV-1 Bet could not effectively counteract the AGM APOBEC activity in Vero cells.