Figure 1

Is there a straight path to identifying cellular contributory factors to HIV infection? (a) In an ideal world, the identification of cellular factors (red circles) that contribute (+) to propagation of virions (black circles) would be the most relevant piece of information. However, for reasons reviewed in this article, there is no straight path that would provide 100% coverage. (b) By taking advantage of the computational approach of Evans et al. [1] and complementary high-throughput approaches [4–6, 8–10], we will maximize our ability to identify such contributory cellular factors. In the process, we will also uncover interaction networks among cellular and viral proteins (purple circle); we might also uncover contributory (left, +) and inhibitory (right, -) factors of infection. The multitude of information will provide additional matrices for data evaluation across platforms, freeing us from the cell-type-specific and viral-strain-specific variables that became apparent in the high-throughput screens reviewed here [4–6, 8–10].