FIG 6.

Evolution of FIV Vif. (A) Reconstructed phylogenetic tree of FIV vif. A red dot indicates the ancestral node of FIV vif. (B and C) Expression plasmids for Flag-tagged FIV Vif were cotransfected with or without the expression plasmids for feline A3Z2, A3Z3, and A3Z2Z3 tagged with HA. Representative results of Western blotting assays (B) and FIV reporter assays (C) are shown. * in panel C, P < 0.05 versus no A3. The assays were independently performed in triplicate. Data represent averages with SDs. (D) Phylogenetic trees of FIV genes. The phylogenetic trees of gag, pol, and env are shown. n, the number of sequences used. The bootstrap values are as follows: >50% (*) and >80% (**). An FIVpco sequence (GenBank accession no. KF906157) was specified as the root of these trees. (E) Schematic of putative scenario for FIV Vif evolution.