title: Distinct populations of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 in blood and cerebrospinal fluid.
abstract: The nucleotide sequence of the gp41 transmembrane protein coding region of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) proviral DNA obtained from blood and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from 6 individuals was determined by direct sequencing of polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-amplified DNA. The direct sequencing approach was performed to avoid errors introduced by Taq polymerase during the amplification reaction. In 3 of 6 paired samples distinct sequence differences between proviral DNA from blood and CSF, ranging from 0.64% to 1.73%, were detected. The greatest diversity (4.2% different amino acids) was found between paired samples of a patient suffering from AIDS encephalopathy, with most of the differences clustering near the carboxy-terminal end of gp41. The results demonstrate that genetically different populations of HIV-1 may be present in different biological compartments and specific neurotropic HIV variants may exist.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Steuler
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Storch-Hagenlocher
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wildemann
mesh_terms: D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000097:blood* / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid* / Q000382:microbiology; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001483:Base Sequence; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000737:chemistry; D015700:HIV Envelope Protein gp41 / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000235:genetics* / Q000472:pathogenicity / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011533:Proviruses / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral; D015700:HIV Envelope Protein gp41