| Literature DB >> 24052884 |
Abstract
The "glycan shield" exposed on the surface of the HIV-1 gp120 env glycoprotein has been previously proposed as a novel target for anti-HIV treatments. While such targeting of these glycans provides an exciting prospect for HIV treatment, little is known about the conservation and variability of glycosylation patterns within and between the various HIV-1 group M subtypes and circulating recombinant forms. Here, we present evidence of strong strain-specific glycosylation patterns and show that the epitope for the 2G12 neutralising antibody is poorly conserved across HIV-1 group M. The unique glycosylation patterns within the HIV-1 group M subtypes and CRFs appear to explain their varying susceptibility to neutralisation by broadly cross-neutralising (BCN) antibodies. Compensatory glycosylation at linearly distant yet three-dimensionally proximal amino acid positions appears to maintain the integrity of the glycan shield while conveying resistance to neutralisation by BCN antibodies. We find that highly conserved clusters of glycosylated residues do exist on the gp120 trimer surface and suggest that these positions may provide an exciting target for the development of BCN anticarbohydrate therapies.Entities:
Year: 2012 PMID: 24052884 PMCID: PMC3765798 DOI: 10.5402/2012/823605
Source DB: PubMed Journal: ISRN AIDS ISSN: 2090-939X
Figure 1Prevalence of glycosylation at selected positions. The relative frequency of glycosylation between subtypes/CRFs at positions where at least one subtype/CRFs shows high levels of glycosylation. Positions where greater than 75% of sequences were predicted as glycosylated for at least one subtype/CRF are shown.
gp120 variable loop glycosylation. The average, median, range of lengths (number of amino acids), and number of predicted N-linked glycosylated positions for the gp120 variable loops of each of the HIV-1 group M subtypes and CRFs studied.
| A | B | C | D | AE | AG | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AV | MED | RA | AV | MED | RA | AV | MED | RA | AV | MED | RA | AV | MED | RA | AV | MED | RA | |
| Length | ||||||||||||||||||
|
| ||||||||||||||||||
| V1/V2 | 68 | 68 | 57–92 | 68 | 68 | 46–85 | 68 | 67 | 51–89 | 65 | 67 | 57–82 | 69 | 69 | 55–85 | 66 | 65 | 53–89 |
| V3 | 34 | 34 | 25–35 | 34 | 34 | 31–38 | 34 | 34 | 24–36 | 33 | 33 | 33–35 | 34 | 34 | 34–35 | 34 | 34 | 33–34 |
| V4 | 31 | 30 | 22–40 | 31 | 31 | 15–41 | 27 | 27 | 17–39 | 30 | 30 | 21–37 | 27 | 27 | 18–39 | 31 | 31 | 24–38 |
| V5 | 10 | 10 | 9–13 | 11 | 11 | 9–19 | 11 | 11 | 7–19 | 11 | 10.5 | 8–16 | 10 | 10 | 8–13 | 10 | 10 | 9–15 |
|
| ||||||||||||||||||
| Number of glycosylated positions | ||||||||||||||||||
|
| ||||||||||||||||||
| V1/V2 | 6 | 6 | 3–10 | 6 | 6 | 3–9 | 6 | 6 | 1–10 | 6 | 6 | 3–8 | 6 | 6 | 3–11 | 6 | 6 | 3–10 |
| V3 | 1 | 1 | NA | 1 | 1 | 1-2 | 1 | 1 | 1-2 | 1 | 1 | NA | 1 | 1 | 1-2 | 1 | 1 | 1-2 |
| V4 | 5 | 5 | 2–7 | 5 | 5 | 2–7 | 4 | 4 | 1–7 | 5 | 5 | 2–7 | 4 | 4 | 2–6 | 5 | 5 | 3–7 |
| V5 | 2 | 2 | 1–3 | 1 | 1 | 1–3 | 1 | 1 | 1–4 | 2 | 2 | 1–3 | 2 | 2 | 1–3 | 2 | 2 | 1–3 |
AV: average, MED: median, RA: range.
2G12 conservation percentage of sequences representing each of the subtypes/CRFs exhibiting glycosylation at all positions in the conserved 2G12 core epitope (295N, 332N, and 392N) and the core epitope with peripheral glycans that have been suggested to be involved in 2G12 binding (339N, 386N, and 448N).
| Subtype/CRF | Core epitope | Core + peripheral glycans |
|---|---|---|
| A | 33% | 27% |
| B | 61% | 36% |
| C | 11% | 5% |
| D | 35% | 23% |
| CRF01_AE | 1% | 1% |
| CRF02_AG | 60% | 35% |
Figure 2Networks of positions with highly conserved glycosylation. Networks of highly conserved glycosylated pairs identified in each HIV-1 group M subtype/CRF. Pairs where greater than 90% of sequences exhibit glycosylation at both positions are joined by a line. In all cases, the networks are mutually dependent such that each position in the network is seen as highly dependent with every other position in the network. The number of sequence in each dataset is represented as n while the percentage of sequences glycosylated at all of the positions in the network for the respective subtype/CRF is also shown. Positions that are predicted as N-linked glycosylated in less than 25% of sequences for a particular subtype/CRF are marked with a ∗.