Abstract
Replication of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) is restricted to CD4-expressing primate cells. This tropism may be due partly to the absence from nonprimate cells of a species-specific factor which has an accessory role to CD4 during virus penetration. In this study we describe a rat B lymphocyte cell line in which there is efficient CD4-dependent entry of HIV-1. However, this cell line has a block to productive infection of HIV-1 at a stage between reverse transcription and integration. Our results demonstrate that the putative accessory factor for HIV-1 penetration is not restricted to primate cells and that there is a novel, uncharacterized cell-virus interaction at a stage between penetration and integration.
† Present address: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Clinical Research Building, 422 Curie Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA 19104, U.S.A.
‡ Present address: Clinique de Medecine II, 24 rue Micheli du Crest, Hopital Cantonal Universitaire, CH-1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland.
Present address: Department of Pathology, New York University Medical Center, 550 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016, U.S.A.