Phenotypically Vif(-) human immunodeficiency virus type 1 is produced by chronically infected restrictive cells

The permissivity of CD4(+) transformed T cells for the replication of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) vif mutants varies widely between different cell lines. Mutant vif-negative viruses propagate normally in permissive CD4(+) cell lines but are unable to establish a productive infection in restrictive cell lines such as H9. As a consequence, elucidation of the function of Vif has been considerably hampered by the inherent difficulty in obtaining a stable source of authentically replication-defective vif-negative viral particles produced by restrictive cells. vif-negative, vpr-negative HIV-1 strain NDR stock, produced by the permissive SupT1 cell line, was used to infect restrictive H9 cells. By using a high multiplicity, infection of H9 cells was achieved, leading to persistent production of viral particles displaying a dramatically reduced infectious virus titer when measured in a single-cycle infectivity assay. Although these viral particles were unable to further propagate in H9 cells, they could replicate normally in CEM and SupT1 cells. Comparison of unprocessed and processed Gag proteins in the persistently produced vif-negative viral particles revealed no defect in the processing of polypeptide precursors, with no inversion of the Pr55(gag)/p24 ratio. In addition, there was no defect in Env incorporation for the vif-negative viral particles. Despite their apparently normal protein content, these particles were morphologically abnormal when examined by transmission electron microscopy, displaying a previously described abnormally condensed nucleoid. Chronically infected restrictive cell lines producing stable levels of phenotypically vif-negative HIV-1 particles could prove particularly useful in further studies on the function of Vif in the virus life cycle.