12th International HIV Drug Resistance Workshop


10–14 June 2003, Cabo del Sol, Los Cabos, Mexico


MECHANISMS OF HIV-1 DIVERSITY

Antivir Ther. 2003; 8:S1 (abstract no. 1)

B Korber
Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, N. Mex., USA; The Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM, USA

HIV has evolved many ways to vary, particularly in the envelope gene where immune escape for neutralizing antibody responses and features of cellular tropism are determined. The rate of base substitution is extraordinarily high, and modelling the evolution of these changes enables phylogenetic reconstructions of HIV viruses. But HIV has other mechanisms of variation that can result in immune evasion including recombination, shifting glycosylation patterns, insertions and deletions, and action at a distance through conformational change. Each of these mechanisms of diversity will be reviewed in the context of what can be learned form the database, with particular focus on the immunological impact of HIV variation, studies where recombination was not seen (surprising in the context of some of the recent studies documenting high levels of recombination), and patterns of glycosylation site variation. New tools available at the Los Alamos HIV database will be discussed.

PRESENTING AUTHOR: B Korber

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2003-07-08
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