With a small genome of ~9.2 kb that encodes 14 major proteins, HIV must hijack host cellular machinery to successfully establish infection. These host proteins necessary for HIV replication are called “dependency factors.” Whole-genome, and then targeted screens were done to try to comprehensively identify all dependency factors acting throughout the HIV replication cycle.

At each stage of the HIV life cycle, host cellular proteins are hijacked by the virus to establish and enhance infection. We adapted the virus packageable HIV-CRISPR screening technology at a genome-wide scale to comprehensively identify host factors that affect HIV replication in a human T cell line. Using a smaller, targeted HIV Dependency Factor (HIVDEP) sub-library, we then performed screens across multiple HIV strains representing different clades and with different biological properties to define which T cell host factors are strain-specific versus which ones are important across all HIV strains and different clades. Nearly 90% genes selected across multiple host pathways validated in subsequent assays as bona fide host dependency factors including numerous proteins not previously reported to play role in HIV biology such as UBE2M, MBNL1, FBXW7, PELP1, SLC39A7, and others. Our ranked list of screen hits across multiple viral strains form a resource of HIV dependency factors for future investigation of host proteins involved in HIV biology.