Genetic Recombination in Retroviruses

该项目的目标是确定HIV重组的频率和机制，表征不同慢病毒之间的潜在重组，并检查重组病毒的特性。我们已经在几个距离上测量了HIV-1重组率，并证明了重组是重组HIV-1基因组的一个非常强大的工具。我们目前正在研究其他慢病毒是否也可以高频重组。我们已经确定了HIV-1亚型间重组的一个主要限制因素，目前正在研究其他限制HIV重组和复制的因素。我们扩大了这些研究的范围，以检查不同的慢病毒是否可以相互重组。除了研究重组的频率和局限性外，了解重组的后果也很重要。为了解决重组的这一方面，我们目前正在研究重组病毒的特性，以及某些重组子在特定环境中是否具有选择优势。由于认为人畜共患病事件同时产生HIV-1和HIV-2，我们还构建了杂交病毒来研究重组是否有助于适应新的宿主。

The goals of this project are to determine the frequency and mechanisms of HIV recombination, to characterize potential recombination between divergent lentiviruses, and to examine the properties of recombinant viruses. We have measured HIV-1 recombination rates at several distances and demonstrated that recombination is a very powerful tool for reassorting the HIV-1 genome. We are currently examining whether other lentiviruses can also recombines at high frequencies. We have identified a major restriction to intersubtype HIV-1 recombination, and are currently studying other restrictions to HIV recombination and replication. We have extended these studies to examine whether distinct lentiviruses can recombine with one another. In addition to studying the frequency and limitation of recombination, it is also important to understand the consequences of recombination. To address this aspect of recombination, we are currently examining the properties of recombinant viruses, and whether certain recombinants have a selective advantage in a given environment. Because it is thought that zoonotic events generated both HIV-1 and HIV-2, we have also constructed hybrid viruses to study whether recombination can facilitate the adaptation to new hosts.