Construction and Characterization of Highly Infectious Full-Length Molecular Clones of a HIV-1 CRF07_BC Isolate from Xinjiang, China

Among the various subtypes of the M group of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), clade CRF07_BC is the most prevalent in China. To date, no strong replicable CRF07_BC infectious clone has been constructed. Here we report on the construction and characterization of highly replicable infectious molecular clones from the isolate XJDC6291 of this HIV-1 subtype. Four full-length clones pXJDC2-7, pXJDC3-7, pXJDC2-6 and pXJDC3-6 were successfully produced, but only pXJDC2-7 presented detectable infectivity and replication capability. To improve the replication capability of pXJDC2-7, a 4.8 kb region spanning from the pol Integrase to nef gene of the clone was replaced by PCR products of the corresponding fragments from the original isolate XJDC6291, which produced two clones pXJDC13 and pXJDC17 that exhibited strong replication capability. The viral stocks obtained by pXJDC-13 and pXJDC-17 transfection into 293T cells replicated efficiently in human PBMCs, human primary CD4(+) T cells and displayed CCR5 tropism. Sequence alignment between pXJDC13, pXJDC17 and pXJDC2-7 suggested that polymorphisms in the V1V2 region may influence infectivity, and reverse genetic experiment showed that V1V2 polymorphisms may influence the infectivity of the clones but did not affect the replication capability at a significant level. pXJDC13 and pXJDC17 displayed strong replication capability and are the first full-length infectious clones of HIV-1 CRF07_BC clade in the world. The availability of CRF07_BC infectious clones provides a useful tool for a wide range of studies, including antiretroviral drug and vaccine research as related to this HIV subtype.