The morphogenesis of a Chinese strain of HIV-1 forming inclusion bodies in Jurkat-tat III cells.

A rapid/high replicative strain of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) (BC9101) was isolated directly in the Jurkat-tat III cell line from a Chinese patient with AIDS. The thin-section electron microscopy was performed and revealed high efficiency of replication of BC9101 with some unusual biological properties. Many vacuoles, most of them filled with HIV particles, were found close to the nucleus. Double-cored virions and double budding were frequently observed in the vacuoles and at the vacuolar membrane. Virus particles matured by budding both into intracytoplasmic vacuoles and through the plasma membrane. Inclusion bodies of varying sizes, some consisting of thousands of HIV particles, were found in the cytoplasm. All the illustrated features describing formation of inclusion bodies were compatible with the observation that HIV particles were assembled at and budded from the cytoplasmic vacuole membrane. They were then released from the membrane into the vacuoles, and subsequently, the maturation occurred. Some of the vacuoles accumulated to such a high number of mature virus particles that inclusion bodies were formed. During the disintegration of the cells, the inclusion bodies surrounded by the vacuolar membrane were released from the cells. The nucleotide sequence of the vpu gene of BC9101 was investigated and indicated that the unusual biological properties may due to the lack of a start codon for translation of the vpu protein.