Figure 3.

Comparative assessment of replication rates among HIV_REJO.c mutants for the Pol gene in the presence of antiretroviral drugs. Single-point mutants for the Pol gene were generated using the HIV_REJO.c IMC backbone. Then, QuickFit RT-qPCR was performed and growth rates were determined. To evaluate the impact of ART drugs in these mutants, these strains were also grown in the presence of 300nM of emtricitabine (FTC, 0.5× the EC₅₀ in vitro value) or DMSO as a control. Viral growth (GC/mL) was calculated by normalizing the initial value of each sample (after inclusion and exclusion criteria filtering) on day 0 to 1 × 10⁵ GC/mL and by subsequently interpolating the remaining values from days 1 to 4 based on the fit curve model. Overlaid is the mean growth rate and the 95% confidence interval. The table to the right shows the r values (growth rates) ± the standard deviation for each strain tested for both conditions. The sample size (n) references the number of wells included in the analysis after filtering with inclusion and exclusion criteria. The fitness cost represents the doubling rate of each strain relative to the WT HIV_REJO.c without FTC. The dotted line represents the limit of detection for each assay. NA: No growth was detected.