Key Viral Adaptations Preceding the AIDS Pandemic.
HIV, the causative agent of AIDS, has a complex evolutionary history involving several cross-species transmissions and recombination events as well as changes in the repertoire and function of its accessory genes. Understanding these events and the adaptations to new host species provides key insights into innate defense mechanisms, viral dependencies on cellular factors, and prerequisites for the emergence of the AIDS pandemic. In addition, understanding the factors and adaptations required for the spread of HIV in the human population helps to better assess the risk of future lentiviral zoonoses and provides clues to how improved control of viral replication can be achieved. Here, we summarize our current knowledge on viral features and adaptations preceding the AIDS pandemic. We aim at providing a viral point of view, focusing on known key hurdles of each cross-species transmission and the mechanisms that HIV and its simian precursors evolved to overcome them.
['Sauter|Daniel|D|', 'Kirchhoff|Frank|F|']
D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome D000222:Adaptation, Physiological D000818:Animals D000835:Animals, Wild D006071:Gorilla gorilla D015497:HIV-1 D015498:HIV-2 D000882:Haplorhini D058507:Host Specificity D006801:Humans D007113:Immunity, Innate D002679:Pan troglodytes D058873:Pandemics D018419:Primate Diseases D011995:Recombination, Genetic D016097:Simian Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome D015302:Simian Immunodeficiency Virus D013045:Species Specificity D014779:Virus Replication D015047:Zoonoses
adaptation AIDS HIV arms race evolution primate lentiviruses restriction factors viral zoonoses