Rapid full-length genomic sequencing of two cytopathically heterogeneous Australian primary HIV-1 isolates

Two Australian HIV-1 isolates, derived from patient blood (HIVMBC200) and c erebrospinal fluid (HIVMBC925), were characterized after in vitro culture i n peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). Although virus replication was similar, as measured by cell-free reverse transcriptase activity, only one of the two isolates (HIV-1(MCB200)) consistently induced cell syncytia and depleted the PBMC population of CD4+ cells by cell killing. A novel techni que, devised for rapidly obtaining high-quality viral sequence data and the full-length genomic sequence of these two isolates, is presented, Analysis of the predicted sequence of the viral Env proteins provides correlates of the observed phenotypes. Phylogenetic analysis derived using near full-len gth sequence of these and other HIV-1 subtype B genomic sequences (includin g two other Australian isolates) shows a star-shaped phylogeny with each me mber having a similar genetic diversity. These data expand the database of genomic sequence available from well-characterized primary clinical isolate s of HIV-1 using a novel rapid technique. Copyright (C) 2000 National Scien ce Council. ROC and S. Karger AG, Basel.