The tempo and mode of SIV quasispecies development in vivo calls for massive viral replication and clearance

Abstract

Simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) quasispecies development was followed in four monkeys (Macacca fasciculatis) infected by intramuscular inoculation of phage λ-SIVmac239 DNA. Rooted phylogenetic trees were reconstructed and used to interpret the data. The rate of fixation of base substitutions varied within and between animals reaching 33 x 10-2 per site per year. These data suggest that the tempo of quasispecies development requires both massive vital replication and efficient clearance of SIV. Despite this, no significant difference was found between the observed and expected ratio of synonymous/nonsynonymous substitutions, suggesting that there was little or no selection of antigenic variants in the V1 and V2 hypervariable regions of envelope. © 1995 Academic Press, Inc.