Codon pairs of the HIV-1 vif gene correlate with CD4+ T cell count.

Bizinoto M. C., Yabe S., Leal É., Kishino H., de Oliveira Martins L., de Lima M. L., Morais E. R., Diaz R. S., Janini L. M.. (2013)

BMC infectious diseases, 13, 173

The human APOBEC3G (A3G) protein activity is associated with innate immunity against HIV-1 by inducing high rates of guanosines to adenosines (G-to-A) mutations (viz., hypermutation) in the viral DNA. If hypermutation is not enough to disrupt the reading frames of viral genes, it may likely increase the HIV-1 diversity. To counteract host innate immunity HIV-1 encodes the Vif protein that binds A3G protein and form complexes to be degraded by cellular proteolysis.

BMC infectious diseases, 13, 173

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