title: Identification of an env G subtype and heterogeneity of HIV-1 strains in the Russian Federation and Belarus.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To identify HIV-1 envelope sequence subtypes in infected individuals from the Russian Federation and Belarus.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cohort of children infected after exposure to non-sterile needles during the 1988-1989 HIV-1 epidemic in southern Russia (n = 20) and HIV-1-seropositive individuals from Russia (n = 1) and Belarus (n = 7) infected via sexual transmission.
  
  
  METHODS
  DNA samples derived from peripheral blood mononuclear cells were analysed for their HIV-1 genotypes by the heteroduplex mobility assay (HMA). The 1.3 kilobase-pair env gene fragments encoding a portion of gp120 were amplified by nested polymerase chain reaction, cloned and sequenced. The env sequences derived from these patients were aligned and phylogenetic neighbour-joining and maximum parsimony-derived trees generated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The env sequences derived from eight individuals infected in Russia and Belarus belong to subtype A (one), B (four), C (two), and D (one). Sequences derived from children, infected during parenteral manipulations in southern Russia, and one mother were closely related, but highly divergent, as a group, from all prototypic strains (genetic divergence, 17.2-22.9%). However, they clustered together with env sequences of the V1525 and LBV21-7 isolates from Gabon, recently described to be members of a new HIV-1 env subtype G.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Extensive heterogeneity of HIV-1 subtypes was evident in the Russian Federation and Belarus. Our data also support the existence of an HIV-1 env genetic subtype G, and such isolates are now apparently present on both the African and European continents. These variants were identified through V3 peptide enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay screening and subsequent HMA analysis. The combination of these techniques represents a model for screening HIV variants within a large population.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Virology, D.I. Ivanovsky Institute of Virology, Moscow, Russia.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bobkov
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cheingsong-Popov
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Garaev
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rzhaninova
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kaleebu
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Beddows
authors.forename: M H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Bachmann
authors.forename: J I
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Mullins
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Louwagie
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Janssens
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001483:Base Sequence; D002648:Child; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D015686:Gene Products, env / Q000235:genetics; D015752:Genes, env; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009692:Nucleic Acid Heteroduplexes / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D010802:Phylogeny; D002094:Republic of Belarus / Q000453:epidemiology; D012426:Russia / Q000453:epidemiology; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral; D015686:Gene Products, env; D009692:Nucleic Acid Heteroduplexes