Supplementary materials for parallel evolution of the elite neutralizer phenotype in divergent HIV-1 clades

In a small subset of HIV-1 infected individuals, viral evolution driven by immune selection can lead to the development of the elite neutralizer (EN) phenotype. Using positive selection analysis and immunization data, this study shows how glycan loss for viral escape from a glycan-dependent antibody might be constrained for maintaining shielding of an immunogenic, broadly neutralizing epitope. We show that positive selection of shielding glycans characterized two EN viral populations from divergent clades and discuss the implications of this finding for vaccine development.