Fluctuations in susceptibility to HIV or SHIV during the menstrual cycle are currently not fully documented. To address this, the time point of infection was determined in 19 adult female pigtail macaques vaginally challenged during their undisturbed menstrual cycles with repeated, low-dose SHIV(SF162P3) exposures. Eighteen macaques (95%) first displayed viremia in the follicular phase, as compared with 1 macaque (5%) in the luteal phase (P < 0.0001). Due to a viral eclipse phase, we estimated a window of most frequent virus transmission between days 24 and 31 of the menstrual cycle, in the late luteal phase. Thus, susceptibility to vaginal SHIV infection is significantly elevated in the second half of the menstrual cycle when progesterone levels are high and when local immunity may be low. Such susceptibility windows have been postulated before but not definitively documented. Our data support the findings of higher susceptibility to HIV in women during progesterone-dominated periods including pregnancy and contraceptive use.

Initial studies of 88 transmission pairs in the Zambia Emory HIV Research Project cohort demonstrated that the number of transmitted HLA-B associated polymorphisms in Gag, but not Nef, was negatively correlated to set point viral load (VL) in the newly infected partners. These results suggested that accumulation of CTL escape mutations in Gag might attenuate viral replication and provide a clinical benefit during early stages of infection. Using a novel approach, we have cloned gag sequences isolated from the earliest seroconversion plasma sample from the acutely infected recipient of 149 epidemiologically linked Zambian transmission pairs into a primary isolate, subtype C proviral vector, MJ4. We determined the replicative capacity (RC) of these Gag-MJ4 chimeras by infecting the GXR25 cell line and quantifying virion production in supernatants via a radiolabeled reverse transcriptase assay. We observed a statistically significant positive correlation between RC conferred by the transmitted Gag sequence and set point VL in newly infected individuals (p = 0.02). Furthermore, the RC of Gag-MJ4 chimeras also correlated with the VL of chronically infected donors near the estimated date of infection (p = 0.01), demonstrating that virus replication contributes to VL in both acute and chronic infection. These studies also allowed for the elucidation of novel sites in Gag associated with changes in RC, where rare mutations had the greatest effect on fitness. Although we observed both advantageous and deleterious rare mutations, the latter could point to vulnerable targets in the HIV-1 genome. Importantly, RC correlated significantly (p = 0.029) with the rate of CD4+ T cell decline over the first 3 years of infection in a manner that is partially independent of VL, suggesting that the replication capacity of HIV-1 during the earliest stages of infection is a determinant of pathogenesis beyond what might be expected based on set point VL alone.

We investigated the properties of several peptides with sequences related to LWYIK, a segment found in the gp41 protein of HIV and believed to play a role in sequestering this protein to a cholesterol-rich domain in the membrane. This segment fulfills the requirements to be classified as a CRAC motif that has been suggested to predict those proteins that will partition into cholesterolrich regions of the membrane. All of the peptides were studied with the terminal amino and carboxyl groups blocked, i.e. as N-acetyl-peptide-amides. Effects of cholesterol on the intensity of W emission generally parallel DSC evidence of sequestration of cholesterol. Modeling studies indicate that all of these peptides tend to partition with their mass center at the membrane interface at the level of the hydroxyl of cholesterol. Interaction with cholesterol is dual: van der Waals interactions between mainly hydrophobic surfaces and, electrostatic stabilization of the cholesterol OH group. Thus, both experiments and modeling studies indicate that preference of CRAC motifs for cholesterol-rich domains might be related to a membrane interfacial preference of the motif, to a capacity to wrap and block the cholesterol polar OH by H-bond interactions and to a capacity for peptide aromatic side chains to stack with cholesterol. These results were supported by studies of single mutations in the gp41 protein of HIV-1, in which L 679 is replaced with I. Despite the similarity of the properties of these amino acid residues, this single substitution resulted in a marked decrease in the capability of JC53-BL HeLa-based HIV-1 indicator cells to form syncytia.It has been demonstrated that peptides and proteins can cause the redistribution of cholesterol in membranes (1). Triggering domain formation may play an important role in signal transduction (2). One class of domains thought to be present in biological membranes has been termed "rafts". Although there is controversy about the nature and prevalence of such domains, it is well established that caveolae are distinct domains in the membrane with many chemical and physical properties similar to those proposed for "rafts".

The membrane-proximal external region (MPER; K 665 WASLWNWFNITNWLWYIK 683 ) of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) gp41 ectodomain plays a critical role in envelope glycoproteinmediated fusion. In addition, the epitopes of important neutralizing antibodies (2F5, Z13, and 4E10) and the sequence of the peptide fusion inhibitor T20 overlap this conserved region. The MPER has an unusually high percentage of tryptophan residues that likely contribute to the membrane-disrupting nature of the region, which is predicted to adopt an ␣-helical conformation on membrane contact. We have investigated the membrane-disruptive requirements for this region using a panel of mutants that replace most of the MPER with antibacterial, membrane-active peptides. The results demonstrate that the mutant Envs were processed, transported, and expressed on the cell surface similar to wild type. Some of the mutant Envs induced moderate levels of cell-cell fusion, demonstrating that the region can accommodate the substitution of proline-rich foreign peptides while retaining significant biological function. In contrast, the incorporation into and stability of the mutated Envs in virions was reduced, consistent with the severely impaired viral entry observed for all the mutants. These data suggest that both structural (for Env incorporation) and functional (membrane disruption) constraints may contribute to the highly conserved nature of this region.

Background Hormonal changes during menstrual cycling may affect susceptibility to HIV. Methods We determined the SHIV acquisition time point in 43 cycling pigtail macaques infected by repeated vaginal virus exposures initiated randomly in the cycle. Results SHIV infection was first detected in the follicular phase in 38 macaques (88%), and in the luteal phase in 5 macaques (12%), indicating a statistically significant timing difference. Assuming a 7-day eclipse phase, most infections occurred during or following a high-progesterone period associated with menstruation, vaginal epithelium thinning and suppressed mucosal immunity. Conclusions This raises questions whether other high progesterone conditions (pregnancy, hormonal contraception) similarly affect HIV risk.

We investigated the peptides N-acetyl-AWYIK-amide and N-acetyl-VWYIK-amide corresponding to single amino acid substitutions in LWYIK, a segment found in the gp41 protein of HIV and believed to play a role in sequestering this protein to a cholesterol-rich domain in the membrane. The effects of these peptides on the thermotropic phase transitions of 1-stearoyl-2-oleoylphosphatidylcholine (SOPC) and mixtures of SOPC and cholesterol were intermediate between that having the wild-type sequence (LWYIK) and another (IWYIK), the least active peptide previously studied. This correlated with results from studies of single mutations in the gp41 protein of HIV-1, in which L679 of the LWYIK segment is replaced with either A or V, measuring the capability of TZM-BL HeLa-based HIV-1 indicator cells to form syncytia. The peptides were also comparatively analyzed in silico. All together, the results suggest that the mode of interaction of this region of gp41 with the polar heads of membrane lipids contributes to its cholesterol selectivity and that this is somehow related to the biological activity of the viral glycoprotein.

The membrane-proximal external region (MPER) of the gp41 fusion protein of HIV is highly conserved among isolates of this virus and is considered a target for vaccine development. This region also appears to play a role in membrane fusion as well as localization of the virus to cholesterol-rich domains in membranes. The carboxyl terminus of MPER has the sequence LWYIK and appears to have an important role in cholesterol interactions. We have tested how amino acid substitutions that would affect the conformational flexibility of this segment could alter its interaction with cholesterol. We studied a family of peptides (all peptides as N-acetyl-peptide amides) with P, G or A substituting for W and I of LWYIK. The peptide having the largest effect on cholesterol distribution in membranes was the most flexible one, LGYGK. The corresponding mutation in gp41 resulted in a protein retaining 72% of the fusion activity of the wild type protein. Two other peptides were synthesized, also containing two Gly residues, GWGIK and LWGIG, did not have the ability to sequester cholesterol as efficiently as LGYGK did. Making the corresponding mutants of gp41 showed that these other two double Gly substitutions resulted in proteins that were much less fusogenic, although they were equally well expressed at the cell surface. The study demonstrates that drastic changes can be made in the LWYIK segment with the retention of a significant fraction of the fusogenic activity, as long as the mutant proteins interact with cholesterol.

Vaginal bacterial communities play an important role in human health and have been shown to influence HIV infection. Pigtailed macaques (Macaca nemestrina) are used as an animal model of HIV vaginal infection of women. Since the bacterial microbiota could influence retrovirus infection of pigtailed macaques, the genital microbiota in 10 cycling macaques was determined by pyrosequencing. The microbiota of all macaques was polymicrobial with a median of 13 distinct genera. Strikingly, the genera Sneathia and Fusobacterium, both in the phylum Fusobacteria, accounted for 18.9% and 13.3% of sequences while the next most frequent were Prevotella (5.6%), Porphyromonas (4.1%), Atopobium (3.6%), and Parvimonas (2.6%). Sequences corresponding to Lactobacillus comprised only 2.2% of sequences on average and were essentially all L. amylovorus. Longitudinal sampling of the 10 macaques over an 8-week period, which spanned at least one full ovulatory cycle, showed a generally stable presence of the major types of bacteria with some exceptions. These studies show that the microbiota of the pigtailed macaques is substantially dissimilar to that found in most healthy humans, where the genital microbiota is usually dominated by Lactobacillus sp. The polymicrobial makeup of the macaque bacterial populations, the paucity of lactobacilli, and the specific types of bacteria present suggest that the pigtailed macaque microbiota could influence vaginal retrovirus infection.