Abstract

The geographical distributions and prevalences of different HIV-1 groups show large variations. Understanding drivers of distinctive viral spread may aid in the development of therapeutic strategies for controlling the spread of HIV-1 pandemic strains. The differential spread of HIV-1 groups appears to be linked to their capacities to antagonize the long and short isoforms of the BST2 restriction factor. We found that the endemic HIV-1 group O-encoded BST2 antagonist Nef is unable to counteract the restriction mediated by short BST2, a condition that impairs its ability to activate ILT7 and suppress pDC antiviral responses. This is in contrast to the pandemic HIV-1 group M-specified BST2 countermeasure Vpu, which displays a diverse array of mechanisms to counteract short and long BST2 isoforms, an attribute that allows the effective control of pDC antiviral responses. These findings may help explain the limited spread of HIV-1 group O as well as the continued predominance of HIV-1 group M throughout the world.

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