Novel replication competent human immunodeficiency virus type 2 (hiv-2) proviral clone designated hiv-2kr

A full-length infectious molecular clone, designated HIV-K, was obtained from a recombinant bacteriophage library constructed from HI-2PIE-infected MOLT-4/8 genomic DNA. Nucleotide sequence analysis of this clone demonstrated that the rev coding region extends for nearly 69 amino acid residues past the end of most other HIV-2/SIV rev genes. In addition, the long terminal repeat (LTR) contains a deletion of 9-10 bp, depending upon the nucleotide sequence alignment parameters, upstream from the SpI binding sites. This deletion is not present in other HIV-2/SIV isolates and is not similar to previously disclosed NFkB duplications in this region. The HIV-2KR LTR displays higher levels of basal transcriptional acitivty as compared to prototypical HIV-2 isolates. HIV-2KR is capable of infecting macaque peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBMCs) in vitro and produces a productive and persistant, albeit attenuated, infection in Macacca nemestrina. These proviral constructs are useful, inter alia, for the generation of in vitro diagnostic reagents, cell transcuction vectors, and the generation of HIV-2 based packaging cell lines.