Abstract
Background: The human immune proteins APOBEC3G and APOBEC3F (hA3G and hA3F) induce destructive G-to-A changes in the HIV genome, referred to as 'hypermutation'. These two proteins co-express in human cells, co-localize to mRNA processing bodies and might co-package into HIV virions. Therefore they are expected to also co-mutate the HIV genome. Here we investigate the mutational footprints of hA3G and hA3F in a large population of full genome HIV-1 sequences from naturally infected patients to uniquely identify sequences hypermutated by either or both of these proteins. We develop a method of identification based on the representation of hA3G and hA3F target and product motifs that does not require an alignment to a parental/consensus sequence.Results: Out of nearly 100 hypermutated HIV-1 sequences only one sequence from the HIV-1 outlier group showed clear signatures of co-mutation by both proteins. The remaining sequences were affected by either hA3G or hA3F.Conclusion: Using a novel method of identification of HIV sequences hypermutated by the hA3G and hA3F enzymes, we report a very low rate of co-mutation of full-length HIV sequences, and discuss the potential mechanisms underlying this.
Original language | English (US) |
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Article number | 113 |
Journal | Retrovirology |
Volume | 9 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Dec 20 2012 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:DE is funded by a Training Fellowship from the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC). FA is supported by a postgraduate scholarship from the Australian Government and the University of New South Wales. MPD is a senior Research Fellow funded by the NHMRC.
Keywords
- APOBEC3F
- APOBEC3G
- G-to-A mutation signature
- Hypermutated HIV
- Motif representation