Construction and Characterization of a Full-Length HIV-1 92UG001 Subtype D Infectious Molecular Clone

Here we report the construction, sequencing, and biological characterization of a molecular clone of HIV-1_92UG001, a virus representative of subtype D strains circulating in Uganda. The virus produced by the clone has an aggressive syncytium-inducing phenotype, which matches that of the parental virus. This phenotype may be related to duplication of a binding site for a transcription factor, T cell factor 1α (TCF-1α), in the long terminal repeat of the virus.