Growth competition between nearly isogenic viruses provides a sensitive measurement for determining relative replication fitness. The protocols described here include the construction of recombinant HIV-1 clones, virus propagation and growth competition and analysis methods optimized to yield sensitive and consistent results.
Manocheewa, S., Lanxon-Cookson, E. C., Liu, Y., Swain, J. V., McClure, J., Rao, U., Maust, B., Deng, W., Sunshine, J. E., Kim, M., Rolland, M., Mullins, J. I. Pairwise Growth Competition Assay for Determining the Replication Fitness of Human Immunodeficiency Viruses. J. Vis. Exp. (99), e52610, doi:10.3791/52610 (2015).