trimer diversity simple phylogenetic shadow

trimer diversity simple phylogenetic shadow

Jean-Philippe Julien at the SickKids Research Institute and collaborators at Scripps report in PNAS two HIV-1 envelope glycoproteins (Env) of clade C sequences that are faithful antigenic and structural mimic of the native trimer in its pre-fusion conformation: the DU422 and ZM197M trimers. A cryo-EM reconstruction of the ZM197M trimer at sub-nanometer resolution revealed important conformational variability in loops that harbor high sequence diversity between HIV-1 clades. HIV-1 clade C is responsible for over 50% of all new infections worldwide, predominantly in sub-Saharan Africa – the epicenter of the AIDS pandemic. These stable clade C trimers contribute additional diversity to the pool of native-like Env immunogens as key components of strategies to induce neutralizing antibodies to HIV-1 by vaccination.