PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Noah D. Simons
AU  - Geeta N. Eick
AU  - Maria J. Ruiz-Lopez
AU  - David Hyeroba
AU  - Patrick A. Omeja
AU  - Geoffrey Weny
AU  - Colin A. Chapman
AU  - Tony L. Goldberg
AU  - HaoQiang Zheng
AU  - Anupama Shankar
AU  - William M. Switzer
AU  - Simon D.W. Frost
AU  - James H. Jones
AU  - Kirstin N. Sterner
AU  - Nelson Ting
TI  - Genome-wide patterns of gene expression in a wild primate indicate species-specific mechanisms associated with tolerance to natural simian immunodeficiency virus infection
AID  - 10.1101/395152
DP  - 2018 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 395152
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/08/21/395152.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/08/21/395152.full
AB  - Over 40 species of nonhuman primates host simian immunodeficiency viruses (SIVs). In natural hosts, infection is generally assumed to be nonpathogenic due to a long coevolutionary history between host and virus, although pathogenicity is difficult to study in wild nonhuman primates. We used whole-blood RNA-seq and SIV prevalence from 29 wild Ugandan red colobus (Piliocolobus tephrosceles) to assess the effects of SIV infection on host gene expression in wild, naturally SIV-infected primates. We found no evidence for chronic immune activation in infected individuals, suggesting that SIV is not immunocompromising in this species, in contrast to HIV in humans. Notably, an immunosuppressive gene, CD101, was upregulated in infected individuals. This gene has not been previously described in the context of nonpathogenic SIV infection. This expands the known variation associated with SIV infection in natural hosts, and may suggest a novel mechanism for tolerance of SIV infection in the Ugandan red colobus.