Exchangeability of accessory Vif and Vpu proteins between various HIV/SIVs(Review)

Representative human and simian immunodeficiency viruses (HIV/SIVs) have be en monitored for their Vif and Vpu activities in a wide variety of cells. I n contrast to the prototype HIV-1, viruses of the other groups do not neces sarily have these activities. Only HIV-2 and SIVmnd were clearly demonstrat ed to show the Vif and Vpu activities, respectively. The exchangeability of these accessory activities between viruses was then assessed to determine the relatedness of the viruses. Quite different from the results for Tat an d Rev trans-activators, the activities are almost fully compatible between viruses. These results may facilitate the functional grouping of various HN /SIVs.