Somatic mutations within antibody variable and framework regions (FWR) can alter thermostability and structural flexibility, but their impact on functional potency is unclear. Here we study thermostability and use molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to assess the role of FWR mutations during maturation of HIV-1 broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs). The tested bnAbs show lower thermostability than their unmutated ancestor antibodies. FWR mutations in the Fab elbow region are frequently observed in HIV-1 bnAbs and MD simulations show that such FWR mutations alter interdomain flexibility in two HIV-1 bnAbs. In a CD4-binding site lineage, reversion mutations result in a loss of neutralization potency in an early intermediate and affinity-matured bnAb against autologous and heterologous Tier-2 viruses, respectively. Elbow region reversion mutations in a glycan-V3 bnAb modestly reduces potency against an autologous virus isolate. Thus, selection of mutations in the Fab elbow region impacts interdomain conformational flexibility and paratope plasticity during bnAb development.

Maternal vaccination to induce anti-HIV immune factors in breast milk is a potential intervention to prevent postnatal HIV-1 mother-to-child transmission (MTCT). We previously demonstrated that immunization of lactating rhesus monkeys with a modified vaccinia Ankara (MVA) prime/intramuscular (i.m.) protein boost regimen induced functional IgG responses in milk, while MVA prime/intranasal (i.n.) boost induced robust milk Env-specific IgA responses. Yet, recent studies have suggested that prevention of postnatal MTCT may require both Env-specific IgA and functional IgG responses in milk. Thus, to investigate whether both responses could be elicited by a combined systemic/mucosal immunization strategy, animals previously immunized with the MVA prime/i.n. boost regimen received an i.n./i.m. combined C.1086 gp120 boost. Remarkably, high-magnitude Env-specific IgA responses were observed in milk, surpassing those in plasma. Furthermore, 29% of vaccine-elicited Env-specific B cells isolated from breast milk were IgA isotype, in stark contrast to the overwhelming predominance of IgG isotype Env-specific B cells in breast milk of chronically HIV-infected women. A clonal relationship was identified between Env-specific blood and breast milk B cells, suggesting trafficking of that cell population between the two compartments. Furthermore, IgA and IgG monoclonal antibodies isolated from Env-specific breast milk B cells demonstrated diverse Env epitope specificities and multiple effector functions, including tier 1 neutralization, antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC), infected cell binding, and inhibition of viral attachment to epithelial cells. Thus, maternal i.n./i.m. combined immunization is a novel strategy to enhance protective Env-specific IgA in milk, which is subsequently transferred to the infant via breastfeeding.

Eliciting protective titers of HIV-1 broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs) is a goal of HIV-1 vaccine development, but current vaccine strategies have yet to induce bnAbs in humans. Many bnAbs isolated from HIV-1-infected individuals are encoded by immunoglobulin gene rearrangments with infrequent naive B cell precursors and with unusual genetic features that may be subject to host regulatory control. Here, we administer antibodies targeting immune cell regulatory receptors CTLA-4, PD-1 or OX40 along with HIV envelope (Env) vaccines to rhesus macaques and bnAb immunoglobulin knock-in (KI) mice expressing diverse precursors of CD4 binding site HIV-1 bnAbs. CTLA-4 blockade augments HIV-1 Env antibody responses in macaques, and in a bnAb-precursor mouse model, CTLA-4 blocking or OX40 agonist antibodies increase germinal center B and T follicular helper cells and plasma neutralizing antibodies. Thus, modulation of CTLA-4 or OX40 immune checkpoints during vaccination can promote germinal center activity and enhance HIV-1 Env antibody responses.

A goal of HIV vaccine development is to elicit antibodies with neutralizing breadth. Broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) to HIV often have unusual sequences with long heavy-chain complementarity-determining region loops, high somatic mutation rates and polyreactivity. A subset of HIV-infected individuals develops such antibodies, but it is unclear whether this reflects systematic differences in their antibody repertoires or is a consequence of rare stochastic events involving individual clones. We sequenced antibody heavy-chain repertoires in a large cohort of HIV-infected individuals with bNAb responses or no neutralization breadth and uninfected controls, identifying consistent features of bNAb repertoires, encompassing thousands of B cell clones per individual, with correlated T cell phenotypes. These repertoire features were not observed during chronic cytomegalovirus infection in an independent cohort. Our data indicate that the development of numerous B cell lineages with antibody features associated with autoreactivity may be a key aspect in the development of HIV neutralizing antibody breadth.

A recombinant canarypox vector expressing human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) Gag, Pro, and membrane-linked gp120 (vCP1521), combined with a bivalent gp120 protein boost (AIDSVAX B/E), provided modest protection against HIV-1 infection in a community-based population in Thailand (RV144 trial). No protection was observed in Thai injection drug users who received AIDSVAX B/E alone (Vax003 trial). We compared the neutralizing antibody response in these 2 trials.

Lineage-based vaccine design is an attractive approach for eliciting broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) against HIV-1. However, most bNAb lineages studied to date have features indicative of unusual recombination and/or development. From an individual in the prospective RV217 cohort, we identified three lineages of bNAbs targeting the membrane-proximal external region (MPER) of the HIV-1 envelope. Antibodies RV217-VRC42.01, -VRC43.01, and -VRC46.01 used distinct modes of recognition and neutralized 96%, 62%, and 30%, respectively, of a 208-strain virus panel. All three lineages had modest levels of somatic hypermutation and normal antibody-loop lengths and were initiated by the founder virus MPER. The broadest lineage, VRC42, was similar to the known bNAb 4E10. A multimeric immunogen based on the founder MPER activated B cells bearing the unmutated common ancestor of VRC42, with modest maturation of early VRC42 intermediates imparting neutralization breadth. These features suggest that VRC42 may be a promising template for lineage-based vaccine design.

Emerging data support a role for antibody Fc-mediated antiviral activity in vaccine efficacy and in the control of HIV-1 replication by broadly neutralizing antibodies. Antibody-mediated virus internalization is an Fc-mediated function that may act at the portal of entry whereby effector cells may be triggered by pre-existing antibodies to prevent HIV-1 acquisition. Understanding the capacity of HIV-1 antibodies in mediating internalization of HIV-1 virions by primary monocytes is critical to understanding their full antiviral potency. Antibody isotypes/subclasses differ in functional profile, with consequences for their antiviral activity. For instance, in the RV144 vaccine trial that achieved partial efficacy, Env IgA correlated with increased risk of HIV-1 infection (i.e. decreased vaccine efficacy), whereas V1-V2 IgG3 correlated with decreased risk of HIV-1 infection (i.e. increased vaccine efficacy). Thus, understanding the different functional attributes of HIV-1 specific IgG1, IgG3 and IgA antibodies will help define the mechanisms of immune protection. Here, we utilized an in vitro flow cytometric method utilizing primary monocytes as phagocytes and infectious HIV-1 virions as targets to determine the capacity of Env IgA (IgA1, IgA2), IgG1 and IgG3 antibodies to mediate HIV-1 infectious virion internalization. Importantly, both broadly neutralizing antibodies (i.e. PG9, 2G12, CH31, VRC01 IgG) and non-broadly neutralizing antibodies (i.e. 7B2 mAb, mucosal HIV-1+ IgG) mediated internalization of HIV-1 virions. Furthermore, we found that Env IgG3 of multiple specificities (i.e. CD4bs, V1-V2 and gp41) mediated increased infectious virion internalization over Env IgG1 of the same specificity, while Env IgA mediated decreased infectious virion internalization compared to IgG1. These data demonstrate that antibody-mediated internalization of HIV-1 virions depends on antibody specificity and isotype. Evaluation of the phagocytic potency of vaccine-induced antibodies and therapeutic antibodies will enable a better understanding of their capacity to prevent and/or control HIV-1 infection in vivo.

Antibody VRC01 is a human immunoglobulin that neutralizes about 90% of HIV-1 isolates. To understand how such broadly neutralizing antibodies develop, we used x-ray crystallography and 454 pyrosequencing to characterize additional VRC01-like antibodies from HIV-1-infected individuals. Crystal structures revealed a convergent mode of binding for diverse antibodies to the same CD4-binding-site epitope. A functional genomics analysis of expressed heavy and light chains revealed common pathways of antibody-heavy chain maturation, confined to the IGHV1-2*02 lineage, involving dozens of somatic changes, and capable of pairing with different light chains. Broadly neutralizing HIV-1 immunity associated with VRC01-like antibodies thus involves the evolution of antibodies to a highly affinity-matured state required to recognize an invariant viral structure, with lineages defined from thousands of sequences providing a genetic roadmap of their development.

Antibody heavy chain (HC) and light chain (LC) variable region exons are assembled by V(D)J recombination. V(D)J junctional regions encode complementarity-determining-region 3 (CDR3), an antigen-contact region immensely diversified through nontemplated nucleotide additions ("N-regions") by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT). HIV-1 vaccine strategies seek to elicit human HIV-1 broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs), such as the potent CD4-binding site VRC01-class bnAbs. Mice with primary B cells that express receptors (BCRs) representing bnAb precursors are used as vaccination models. VRC01-class bnAbs uniformly use human HC VH1-2 and commonly use human LCs Vκ3-20 or Vκ1-33 associated with an exceptionally short 5-amino-acid (5-aa) CDR3. Prior VRC01-class models had nonphysiological precursor levels and/or limited precursor diversity. Here, we describe VRC01-class rearranging mice that generate more physiological primary VRC01-class BCR repertoires via rearrangement of VH1-2, as well as Vκ1-33 and/or Vκ3-20 in association with diverse CDR3s. Human-like TdT expression in mouse precursor B cells increased LC CDR3 length and diversity and also promoted the generation of shorter LC CDR3s via N-region suppression of dominant microhomology-mediated Vκ-to-Jκ joins. Priming immunization with eOD-GT8 60mer, which strongly engages VRC01 precursors, induced robust VRC01-class germinal center B cell responses. Vκ3-20-based responses were enhanced by N-region addition, which generates Vκ3-20-to-Jκ junctional sequence combinations that encode VRC01-class 5-aa CDR3s with a critical E residue. VRC01-class-rearranging models should facilitate further evaluation of VRC01-class prime and boost immunogens. These new VRC01-class mouse models establish a prototype for the generation of vaccine-testing mouse models for other HIV-1 bnAb lineages that employ different HC or LC Vs.

HIV-1 and its SIV precursors share a broadly neutralizing antibody (bNAb) epitope in variable loop 2 (V2) at the envelope glycoprotein (Env) trimer apex. Here, we tested the immunogenicity of germ line-targeting versions of a chimpanzee SIV (SIVcpz) Env in human V2-apex bNAb heavy-chain precursor-expressing knock-in mice and as chimeric simian-chimpanzee immunodeficiency viruses (SCIVs) in rhesus macaques (RMs). Trimer immunization of knock-in mice induced V2-directed NAbs, indicating activation of V2-apex bNAb precursor-expressing mouse B cells. SCIV infection of RMs elicited high-titer viremia, potent autologous tier 2 neutralizing antibodies, and rapid sequence escape in the canonical V2-apex epitope. Six of seven animals also developed low-titer heterologous plasma breadth that mapped to the V2-apex. Antibody cloning from two of these animals identified multiple expanded lineages with long heavy chain third complementarity determining regions that cross-neutralized as many as 7 of 19 primary HIV-1 strains, but with low potency. Negative stain electron microscopy (NSEM) of members of the two most cross-reactive lineages confirmed V2 targeting but identified an angle of approach distinct from prototypical V2-apex bNAbs, with antibody binding either requiring or inducing an occluded-open trimer. Probing with conformation-sensitive, nonneutralizing antibodies revealed that SCIV-expressed, but not wild-type SIVcpz Envs, as well as a subset of primary HIV-1 Envs, preferentially adopted a more open trimeric state. These results reveal the existence of a cryptic V2 epitope that is exposed in occluded-open SIVcpz and HIV-1 Env trimers and elicits cross-neutralizing responses of limited breadth and potency. IMPORTANCE An effective HIV-1 vaccination strategy will need to stimulate rare precursor B cells of multiple bNAb lineages and affinity mature them along desired pathways. Here, we searched for V2-apex germ line-targeting Envs among a large set of diverse primate lentiviruses and identified minimally modified versions of one chimpanzee SIV Env that bound several human V2-apex bNAb precursors and stimulated one of these in a V2-apex bNAb precursor-expressing knock-in mouse. We also generated chimeric simian-chimpanzee immunodeficiency viruses and showed that they elicit low-titer V2-directed heterologous plasma breadth in six of seven infected rhesus macaques. Characterization of this antibody response identified a new class of weakly cross-reactive neutralizing antibodies that target the V2-apex, but only in occluded-open Env trimers. The existence of this cryptic epitope, which in some Env backgrounds is immunodominant, needs to be considered in immunogen design.

A primary goal of HIV-1 vaccine development is the consistent elicitation of protective, neutralizing antibodies. While highly similar neutralizing antibodies (nAbs) have been isolated from multiple HIV-infected individuals, it is unclear whether vaccination can consistently elicit highly similar nAbs in genetically diverse primates. Here, we show in three outbred rhesus macaques that immunization with Env elicits a genotypically and phenotypically conserved nAb response. From these vaccinated macaques, we isolated four antibody lineages that had commonalities in immunoglobulin variable, diversity, and joining gene segment usage. Atomic-level structures of the antigen binding fragments of the two most similar antibodies showed nearly identical paratopes. The Env binding modes of each of the four vaccine-induced nAbs were distinct from previously known monoclonal HIV-1 neutralizing antibodies, but were nearly identical to each other. The similarities of these antibodies show that the immune system in outbred primates can respond to HIV-1 Env vaccination with a similar structural and genotypic solution for recognizing a particular neutralizing epitope. These results support rational vaccine design for HIV-1 that aims to reproducibly elicit, in genetically diverse primates, nAbs with specific paratope structures capable of binding conserved epitopes.

Viral glycoproteins are a primary target for host antibody responses. However, glycans on viral glycoproteins can hinder antibody recognition since they are self glycans derived from the host biosynthesis pathway. During natural HIV-1 infection, neutralizing antibodies are made against glycans on HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein (Env). However, such antibodies are rarely elicited with vaccination. Previously, the vaccine-induced, macaque antibody DH501 was isolated and shown to bind to high mannose glycans on HIV-1 Env. Understanding how DH501 underwent affinity maturation to recognize glycans could inform vaccine induction of HIV-1 glycan antibodies. Here, we show that DH501 Env glycan reactivity is mediated by both germline-encoded residues that contact glycans, and somatic mutations that increase antibody paratope flexibility. Only somatic mutations in the heavy chain were required for glycan reactivity. The paratope conformation was fragile as single mutations within the immunoglobulin fold or complementarity determining regions were sufficient for eliminating antibody function. Taken together, the initial germline VHDJH rearrangement generated contact residues capable of binding glycans, and somatic mutations were required to form a flexible paratope with a cavity conducive to HIV-1 envelope glycan binding. The requirement for the presence of most somatic mutations across the heavy chain variable region provides one explanation for the difficulty in inducing anti-Env glycan antibodies with HIV-1 Env vaccination.

T follicular helper (Tfh) cells are required to develop germinal center (GC) responses and drive immunoglobulin class switch, affinity maturation, and long-term B cell memory. In this study, we characterize a recently developed vaccine platform, nucleoside-modified, purified mRNA encapsulated in lipid nanoparticles (mRNA-LNPs), that induces high levels of Tfh and GC B cells. Intradermal vaccination with nucleoside-modified mRNA-LNPs encoding various viral surface antigens elicited polyfunctional, antigen-specific, CD4+ T cell responses and potent neutralizing antibody responses in mice and nonhuman primates. Importantly, the strong antigen-specific Tfh cell response and high numbers of GC B cells and plasma cells were associated with long-lived and high-affinity neutralizing antibodies and durable protection. Comparative studies demonstrated that nucleoside-modified mRNA-LNP vaccines outperformed adjuvanted protein and inactivated virus vaccines and pathogen infection. The incorporation of noninflammatory, modified nucleosides in the mRNA is required for the production of large amounts of antigen and for robust immune responses.

The design of immunogens that elicit broadly reactive neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs) has been a major obstacle to HIV-1 vaccine development. One approach to assess potential immunogens is to use mice expressing precursors of human bnAbs as vaccination models. The bnAbs of the VRC01-class derive from the IGHV1-2 immunoglobulin heavy chain and neutralize a wide spectrum of HIV-1 strains via targeting the CD4 binding site of the envelope glycoprotein gp120. We now describe a mouse vaccination model that allows a germline human IGHV1-2(∗)02 segment to undergo normal V(D)J recombination and, thereby, leads to the generation of peripheral B cells that express a highly diverse repertoire of VRC01-related receptors. When sequentially immunized with modified gp120 glycoproteins designed to engage VRC01 germline and intermediate antibodies, IGHV1-2(∗)02-rearranging mice, which also express a VRC01-antibody precursor light chain, can support the affinity maturation of VRC01 precursor antibodies into HIV-neutralizing antibody lineages.

Natural Killer (NK) cells play an important role in antiviral defense and their potent effector function identifies them as key candidates for immunotherapeutic interventions in chronic viral infections. Their remarkable functional agility is achieved by virtue of a wide array of germline-encoded inhibitory and activating receptors ensuring a self-tolerant and tunable repertoire. NK cell diversity is generated by a combination of factors including genetic determinants and infections/environmental factors, which together shape the NK cell pool and functional potential. Recently a genetic polymorphism at position -21 of HLA-B, which influences the supply of HLA-E binding peptides and availability of HLA-E for recognition by the inhibitory NK cell receptor NKG2A, was shown to have a marked influence on NK cell functionality in healthy human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) seronegative Caucasian individuals. In this study, -21 methionine (M)-expressing alleles supplying HLA-E binding peptides were largely poor ligands for inhibitory killer immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIRs), and a bias to NKG2A-mediated education of functionally-potent NK cells was observed. Here, we investigated the effect of this polymorphism on the phenotype and functional capacity of peripheral blood NK cells in a cohort of 36 African individuals with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1)/HCMV co-infection. A similarly profound influence of dimorphism at position -21 of HLA-B on NK cells was not evident in these subjects. They predominantly expressed African specific HLA-B and -C alleles that contribute a distinct supply of NKG2A and KIR ligands, and these genetic differences were compounded by the marked effect of HIV-1/HCMV co-infection on NK cell differentiation. Together, these factors resulted in a lack of correlation of the HLA-B -21 polymorphism with surface abundance of HLA-E and loss of the NK cell functional advantage in subjects with -21M HLA-B alleles. Instead, our data suggest that during HIV/HCMV co-infection exposure of NK cells to an environment that displays altered HLA-E ligands drives adaptive NKG2C+ NK cell expansions influencing effector responses. Increased efforts to understand how NK cells are functionally calibrated to self-HLA during chronic viral infections will pave the way to developing targeted therapeutic interventions to overcome the current barriers to enhancing immune-based antiviral control.

Affinity maturation of the antibody response is a fundamental process in adaptive immunity during which B-cells activated by infection or vaccination undergo rapid proliferation accompanied by the acquisition of point mutations in their rearranged immunoglobulin (Ig) genes and selection for increased affinity for the eliciting antigen. The rate of somatic hypermutation at any position within an Ig gene is known to depend strongly on the local DNA sequence, and Ig genes have region-specific codon biases that influence the local mutation rate within the gene resulting in increased differential mutability in the regions that encode the antigen-binding domains. We have isolated a set of clonally related natural Ig heavy chain-light chain pairs from an experimentally infected influenza patient, inferred the unmutated ancestral rearrangements and the maturation intermediates, and synthesized all the antibodies using recombinant methods. The lineage exhibits a remarkably uniform rate of improvement of the effective affinity to influenza hemagglutinin (HA) over evolutionary time, increasing 1000-fold overall from the unmutated ancestor to the best of the observed antibodies. Furthermore, analysis of selection reveals that selection and mutation bias were concordant even at the level of maturation to a single antigen. Substantial improvement in affinity to HA occurred along mutationally preferred paths in sequence space and was thus strongly facilitated by the underlying local codon biases.

Targeting germline (gl-) precursors of broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) is acknowledged as an important strategy for HIV-1 vaccines. The VRC01-class of bNAbs is attractive because of its distinct genetic signature. However, VRC01-class bNAbs often require extensive somatic hypermutation, including rare insertions and deletions. We describe a BG505 SOSIP trimer, termed GT1.2, to optimize binding to gl-CH31, the unmutated common precursor of the CH30-34 bNAb lineage that acquired a large CDRH1 insertion. The GT1.2 trimer activates gl-CH31 naive B cells in knock-in mice, and B cell responses could be matured by selected boosting immunogens to generate cross-reactive Ab responses. Next-generation B cell sequencing reveals selection for VRC01-class mutations, including insertions in CDRH1 and FWR3 at positions identical to VRC01-class bNAbs, as well as CDRL1 deletions and/or glycine substitutions to accommodate the N276 glycan. These results provide proof of concept for vaccine-induced affinity maturation of B cell lineages that require rare insertions and deletions.

A genome-wide screen for large structural variants showed that a copy number variant (CNV) in the region encoding killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIR) associates with HIV-1 control as measured by plasma viral load at set point in individuals of European ancestry. This CNV encompasses the KIR3DL1-KIR3DS1 locus, encoding receptors that interact with specific HLA-Bw4 molecules to regulate the activation of lymphocyte subsets including natural killer (NK) cells. We quantified the number of copies of KIR3DS1 and KIR3DL1 in a large HIV-1 positive cohort, and showed that an increase in KIR3DS1 count associates with a lower viral set point if its putative ligand is present (p = 0.00028), as does an increase in KIR3DL1 count in the presence of KIR3DS1 and appropriate ligands for both receptors (p = 0.0015). We further provide functional data that demonstrate that NK cells from individuals with multiple copies of KIR3DL1, in the presence of KIR3DS1 and the appropriate ligands, inhibit HIV-1 replication more robustly, and associated with a significant expansion in the frequency of KIR3DS1+, but not KIR3DL1+, NK cells in their peripheral blood. Our results suggest that the relative amounts of these activating and inhibitory KIR play a role in regulating the peripheral expansion of highly antiviral KIR3DS1+ NK cells, which may determine differences in HIV-1 control following infection.

Adjuvanted soluble protein vaccines have been used extensively in humans for protection against various viral infections based on their robust induction of antibody responses. Here, soluble prefusion-stabilized spike protein trimers (preS dTM) from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) were formulated with the adjuvant AS03 and administered twice to nonhuman primates (NHPs). Binding and functional neutralization assays and systems serology revealed that the vaccinated NHP developed AS03-dependent multifunctional humoral responses that targeted distinct domains of the spike protein and bound to a variety of Fc receptors mediating immune cell effector functions in vitro. The neutralizing 50% inhibitory concentration titers for pseudovirus and live SARS-CoV-2 were higher than titers for a panel of human convalescent serum samples. NHPs were challenged intranasally and intratracheally with a high dose (3 × 106 plaque forming units) of SARS-CoV-2 (USA-WA1/2020 isolate). Two days after challenge, vaccinated NHPs showed rapid control of viral replication in both the upper and lower airways. Vaccinated NHPs also had increased spike protein-specific immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibody responses in the lung as early as 2 days after challenge. Moreover, passive transfer of vaccine-induced IgG to hamsters mediated protection from subsequent SARS-CoV-2 challenge. These data show that antibodies induced by the AS03-adjuvanted preS dTM vaccine were sufficient to mediate protection against SARS-CoV-2 in NHPs and that rapid anamnestic antibody responses in the lung may be a key mechanism for protection.

HIV-1 envelope (Env) mimetics are candidate components of prophylactic vaccines and potential therapeutics. Here we use a synthetic V3-glycopeptide ("Man9-V3") for structural studies of an HIV Env third variable loop (V3)-glycan directed, broadly neutralizing antibody (bnAb) lineage ("DH270"), to visualize the epitope on Env and to study how affinity maturation of the lineage proceeded. Unlike many previous V3 mimetics, Man9-V3 encompasses two key features of the V3 region recognized by V3-glycan bnAbs-the conserved GDIR motif and the N332 glycan. In our structure of an antibody fragment of a lineage member, DH270.6, in complex with the V3 glycopeptide, the conformation of the antibody-bound glycopeptide conforms closely to that of the corresponding segment in an intact HIV-1 Env trimer. An additional structure identifies roles for two critical mutations in the development of breadth. The results suggest a strategy for use of a V3 glycopeptide as a vaccine immunogen.