Figure 6

Phenotypic effects of RNA quasispecies complexity. Two-dimensional representation of multi-dimensional hyperdense sequence-space that define viral quasispecies; vast RNA /proteins populations progressively divergent from consensus sequence (0). As genetic the distance of RNAs increases from consensus sequence the amino acid sequence, conformation, and functional properties of resulting proteins may also change, potentially resulting in proteins that, despite originating from identical [consensus sequence] genetic domains, have diametrically opposed function. As many accessory proteins (for example, HIV rev, tat, nef and HCV HP7) have open reading frames contiguous with Envelope, sequence changes to Env will also affect accessory protein function.