Fig. 1: Study design and viral dynamics.

A Sampling timeline following neonatal and adult SHIV-infection in 11 pairs of neonate and dam rhesus macaques (RMs). Peripheral blood (bi-monthly) and lymph node tissue sections (6-month intervals) were collected over time as shown. The sampling within the first 4 months of SHIV challenge varied across animals due to technical and biological variables. This figure panel was Created in BioRender. Williams, W. (2020) https://BioRender.com/d04z220. B Information on the neonate and adult RMs studied including their sex, genotype for SIV restrictive Mamu-alleles [negative (−) and positive (+)], and viral inoculum (ng P27) used to establish infection at the indicated age. Yrs is abbreviation for years for age of adult RMs, whereas age of neonate RMs at time of infection was reported in days or weeks post-birth. C Plasma viral load dynamics measured via qPCR and reported as SIV gag RNA copies/ml (Log₁₀). Each symbol represents an individual RM, but matching symbols represent each corresponding neonate (blue) and dam (red) pair. Longitudinal viral load levels per RM were connected by blue lines for neonate RMs and red lines for adult RMs. The thick blue and red lines represent the geometric mean of viral loads per timepoint for neonate and adult RMs, respectively. The horizontal dash line represents the limit of detection of the assay (1.79 RNA copies/ml). BD62 and V060 died (†) between 18–19 months post SHIV infection. For graphical purposes, some approximated timepoints were used for V057, V058 and V060; Source data are provided as a Source Data file. The reported p-value compares the log viral load area under the curve for adult-dam RMs (N = 11) compared to neonates (N = 11) using a 2-way paired Wilcoxon test.