The viral infectivity factor (Vif) encoded by HIV-1 neutralizes a potent antiviral pathway that occurs in human T lymphocytes and several leukemic T-cell lines termed nonpermissive, but not in other cells termed permissive. In the absence of Vif, this antiviral pathway efficiently inactivates HIV-1. It was recently reported that APOBEC3G (also known as CEM-15), a cytidine deaminase nucleic acid-editing enzyme, confers this antiviral phenotype on permissive cells. Here we describe evidence that Vif binds APOBEC3G and induces its rapid degradation, thus eliminating it from cells and preventing its incorporation into HIV-1 virions. Studies of Vif mutants imply that it contains two domains, one that binds APOBEC3G and another with a conserved SLQ(Y/F)LA motif that mediates APOBEC3G degradation by a proteasome-dependent pathway. These results provide promising approaches for drug discovery.

It has been proposed that changes in cell surface concentrations of coreceptors may control infections by human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), but the mechanisms of coreceptor function and the concentration dependencies of their activities are unknown. To study these issues and to generate stable clones of adherent cells able to efficiently titer diverse isolates of HIV-1, we generated two panels of HeLa-CD4/CCR5 cells in which individual clones express either large or small quantities of CD4 and distinct amounts of CCR5. The panels were made by transducing parental HeLa-CD4 cells with the retroviral vector SFF-CCR5. Derivative clones expressed a wide range of CCR5 quantities which were between 7.0 × 102 and 1.3 × 105 molecules/cell as measured by binding antibodies specific for CCR5 and the chemokine [125I]MIP1β. CCR5 was mobile in the membranes, as indicated by antibody-induced patching. In cells with a large amount of CD4, an unexpectedly low trace of CCR5 (between 7 × 102 and 2.0 × 103molecules/cell) was sufficient for maximal susceptibility to all tested HIV-1, including primary patient macrophagetropic and T-cell-tropic isolates. Indeed, the titers as indicated by immunoperoxidase staining of infected foci were as high as the tissue culture infectious doses measured in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells. In contrast, cells with a small amount of CD4 required a much larger quantity of CCR5 for maximal infection by macrophagetropic HIV-1 (ca. 1.0 × 104 to 2.0 × 104 molecules/cell). Cells that expressed low and high amounts of CD4 were infected with equal efficiencies when CCR5 concentrations were above threshold levels for maximal infection. Our results suggest that the concentrations of CD4 and CCR5 required for efficient infections by macrophagetropic HIV-1 are interdependent and that the requirements for each are increased when the other component is present in a limiting amount. We conclude that CD4 and CCR5 directly or indirectly interact in a concentration-dependent manner within a pathway that is essential for infection by macrophagetropic HIV-1. In addition, our results suggest that multivalent virus-receptor bonds and diffusion in the membrane contribute to HIV-1 infections.

Cell surface receptors for gibbon ape leukemia virus (Glvr-1) and marine amphotropic retrovirus (Ram-i) Ram-i (10) and human Glvr-1 (7) cDNAs were cloned into pGEM-7Z (Promega) with their 5' ends adjacent to the SP6 promoter. For mRNA synthesis, the plasmids were linearized and transcribed with SP6 polymerase in the presence of m7G(5')ppp(5')G caps according to the manufacturer's directions (Pharmacia). Xenopus laevis oocytes were injected with 50 nl of mRNA (1 ng/nl) or with an equal volume of H20 and were incubated for 4-6 days at 17'C; then two-microelectrode voltage-clamp recordings or radiolabel uptake assays were performed at room temperature as described (23).Abbreviations: GALV, gibbon ape leukemia virus; Glvr-1, cell surface receptor for GALV; Ram-i, cell surface receptor for amphotropic murine retrovirus; HIV, human immunodeficiency virus; MLV, murine leukemia virus; Mo-MLV, Moloney MLV.

In addition to the primary cell surface receptor CD4, CCR5 or another coreceptor is necessary for infections by human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), yet the mechanisms of coreceptor function and their stoichiometries in the infection pathway remain substantially unknown. To address these issues, we studied the effects of CCR5 concentrations on HIV-1 infections using wild-type CCR5 and two attenuated mutant CCR5s, one with the mutation Y14N at a critical tyrosine sulfation site in the amino terminus and one with the mutation G163R in extracellular loop 2. The Y14N mutation converted a YYT sequence at positions 14 to 16 to an NYT consensus site for N-linked glycosylation, and the mutant protein was shown to be glycosylated at that position. The relationships between HIV-1 infectivity values and CCR5 concentrations took the form of sigmoidal (S-shaped) curves, which were dramatically altered in different ways by these mutations. Both mutations shifted the curves by factors of approximately 30-to 150-fold along the CCR5 concentration axis, consistent with evidence that they reduce affinities of virus for the coreceptor. In addition, the Y14N mutation specifically reduced the maximum efficiencies of infection that could be obtained at saturating CCR5 concentrations. The sigmoidal curves for all R5 HIV-1 isolates were quantitatively consistent with a simple mathematical model, implying that CCR5s reversibly associate with cell surface HIV-1 in a concentration-dependent manner, that approximately four to six CCR5s assemble around the virus to form a complex needed for infection, and that both mutations inhibit assembly of this complex but only the Y14N mutation also significantly reduces its ability to successfully mediate HIV-1 infections. Although several alternative models would be compatible with our data, a common feature of these alternatives is the cooperation of multiple CCR5s in the HIV-1 infection pathway. This cooperativity will need to be considered in future studies to address in detail the mechanism of CCR5-mediated HIV-1 membrane fusion.