SIV/HIV recombinants and their use in studying biological properties.

A series of chimeric clones between human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) and simian immunodeficiency viruses (SIV) were constructed. Viability of the recombinant viruses was dependent on the position of recombination. Infectious chimeric viruses between HIV-1 and SIVAGM (isolated from an African green monkey) and those between HIV-1 and SIVMAC (isolated from a rhesus monkey) were examined for host cell tropism. Viral determinants that restrict the replication of SIVAGM in human MT-4 cells and that of HIV-1 in macaque monkey peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) mapped to the 5' half of the virus genome. One HIV-1/SIVMAC chimera which contained the HIV-1 env gene was shown to replicate in macaque PBMC in vitro and to infect macaque monkeys in vivo. This HIV-1/SIVMAC chimera will be useful for a variety of AIDS pathogenesis and vaccine studies.