Figure 3.

Comparison of early steps of replication of SIV with full length or truncated Env in rhesus monkey PBMC. Rhesus monkey PBMC (3 × 10⁶) were inoculated by SIV with full length or truncated Env with an equal infectious index (IU/ng) using ~3 IU/ng for each virus as described in Methods. Samples of nuclear DNA were tested for the presence of SIV DNA by real-time PCR in a TaqMan thermal cycler at 24 h after infection. Nuclear DNA samples corresponding to equal numbers of cells infected by SIV were analyzed in triplicate. Fluorescence was recorded as a function of PCR amplification cycle. Quantitative SIV determinations were made by comparison with a standard curve produced by using serial dilution of plasmid DNA.