Figure 3
Fitness comparison among the T/F virus and CTL escape mutants in the single passage assay. Same amount (5 ng p24) of each virus (T/F and CTL escape mutant) was mixed to infect CD4+ T cells in triplicates. The viruses in the supernatant were harvested daily by completely replacing the medium. The proportion of each virus in the inoculum stock and the cell culture supernatants was determined by PASS. The relative fitness was determined by modeling the replication slope of each virus during the culture. Relative fitness was determined for (A) T/F versus T242N (s ij = 0.009 ± 0.007), (B) T/F versus NIA (s ij = 0.02 ± 0.02), (C) NIA versus T242N (s ij = 0.05 ± 0.04) and (D) T/F versus TK viruses (s ij = 0.01 ± 0.01). Similar results were obtained in two independent experiments in CD4+ T cells and the data from one experiment is shown. Means ± standard deviations are plotted.