Simian Immunodeficiency Virus – Research subjects for vaccine and drug development and models for the origin of HIV and AIDS

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Overview

Figure 1: Rhesus macaque monkey (Macaca mulatta). The first species that were found to harbor a simian immunodeficiency virus (SIVmac), which this species is likely to have acquired from sooty mangabeys (Cerocebus atys) in human’s captivity . Link image: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/458311699574399832/?autologin=true&nic_v1=1aHVhF8U1hKE5kWAieTuB0eqJtM3WP6RMUuzYEZCg0ykT0aO34yDNivz2yveYa%2B35S

Simian immunodeficiency viruses (SIV) are a group within the Lentivirus genus of retrovirus family, (Retroviridae) whose genome is ribonucleic acid (RNA) but reverse transcribe to deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) intermediates before making viral proteins. This viral group is found naturally infecting more than 40 African monkeys (or Old World monkeys – Cercopithecidae family) and 2 species of great apes, namely chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) and gorilla (Gorilla gorilla) . SIV are the most closely related viruses to the human immunodeficiency viruses type 1 and 2 (HIV–1 and HIV–2), which cause acquire immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) in human . Despite being called “immunodeficiency viruses”, SIV do not usually result in any AIDS-like syndromes in many of their natural African monkey host communities, such as sooty mangabeys (Cercocebus atys) and Colobus monkeys (Colobinae subfamily) even with high viral counts in infected individuals and high prevalence of infection (up to 59% of a community can be infected) . This suggests that SIV have a long history of coevolution with these natural hosts. However, there has evidence suggesting recent host jumps of SIV from their long-adapted hosts to new host species such as chimpanzees in the wilds, macaques in captives (an example of Asian monkeys who have much less exposure to SIV than the African ones) and humans, where they developed into new strands through combinations and mutations and became pathogenic in the new hosts . In macaques and chimpanzees, (SAIDS) similar to AIDS in human . Thus, researches into SIV, in both their natural reservoir and laboratory model primates, not only reveals the origin of HIV and AIDS, but also help further understandings in HIV’s pathology and developments of HIV and AIDS prevention and treatments.

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References

Authored by [Minh Pham] for BIOL 238 Microbiology, taught by Joan Slonczewski, 2020, Kenyon College.