Genetic variation of simian immunodeficiency viruses in nonhuman primates.

The generation of biologically active proviral DNA clones of simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) that give rise to infectious virions has allowed the detailed examination of genetic variation in experimentally inoculated monkeys. Studies of nucleotide sequences derived directly from circulating leukocytes of infected monkeys show that the SIV genome undergoes rapid and dramatic variation during the course of infection. The env gene is a major site for variation, and within the Env protein, hypervariable regions analogous to those previously defined for the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) env gene are apparent. A major exception is the region corresponding to the V3 domain in HIV-1, which has been highly conserved in all SIV studies to date. These data notwithstanding, the role of SIV genetic variation in the pathogenesis of AIDS in monkeys remains unclear. Genetic variation within the env gene does not appear to be sufficient for the development of AIDS since significant variation is observed in both pathogenic and nonpathogenic SIV infections. Furthermore, although it generally is believed that env gene variation might allow HIV and SIV to avoid recognition and elimination by host immune responses, this premise has not been rigorously proven. The use of molecularly cloned SIV in monkey models has provided important quantitative and qualitative information on in vivo sequence variation, and these data, in turn, have laid the groundwork for addressing the undoubtedly complex functional significance of this variation.