Construction and characterization of a full-length HIV-1(92UG001) subtype D infectious molecular clone.

Here we report the construction, sequencing, and biological characterization of a molecular clone of HIV-1(92UG001), a virus representative of subtype D strains circulating in Uganda. The virus produced by the clone has an aggressive syncytium-inducing phenotype, which matches that of the parental virus. This phenotype may be related to duplication of a binding site for a transcription factor, T cell factor 1alpha (TCF-1alpha), in the long terminal repeat of the virus.