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.
News & Events
- Biochemistry Newsletter – Spring 2024 17 April 2024
- Biochemistry Golf Day is back! 30 June 2023
- Biochemistry November 2022 Newsletter 4 November 2022
- 2022-23 Biochemistry Specialists 5 October 2022
- Connell Lecture on Oct. 19th, 2022 4 October 2022
- Biochemistry Departmental Retreat 2022 30 September 2022