HIV tropism can be inferred from the V3 region of the viral envelope. V3 is PCR amplified in triplicate using nested RT-PCR, sequenced, and interpreted using bioinformatic software. Samples with with 1 or more sequence(s) with low g2P scores are classified as non-R5 virus.
McGovern, R. A., Harrigan, P. R., Swenson, L. C. Genotypic Inference of HIV-1 Tropism Using Population-based Sequencing of V3. J. Vis. Exp. (46), e2531, doi:10.3791/2531 (2010).