Sequence and phylogenetic analyses of a new STLV-I from a naturally infected tantalus monkey from Central Africa.
Simian T-cell leukemia virus (STLV-I) is an oncovirus highly related to human T-cell leukemia virus type I (HTLV-I). To further examine the extent of variability, dissemination patterns, phylogeny, and evolution of these viruses, we analyzed a new STLV-I variant from a naturally infected Cercopithecus aethiops var. tantalus from the Central African Republic. Sequence analyses of its LTR, gag, pol, env, and pX (OrfII) genes indicated that this isolate, STLV-I (Tan 90), is 6% divergent from the prototype HTLV-I (ATK) and is the most divergent African STLV-I characterized to date. Our phylogenetic data indicate that southeast Asian and African STLV-I and HTLV-I strains segregated from each other thousands of years ago and that Japanese HTLV-I strains represent a relatively recent introduction of African or New World isolates. The data also indicate that interspecies transmission occurred several times on different continents over prolonged periods of time.
Department of Medicine and Microbiology, SUNY Health Science Center, Syracuse, New York 13210.
N K
NK
Saksena
V
V
Hervé
M P
MP
Sherman
J P
JP
Durand
C
C
Mathiot
M
M
Müller
J L
JL
Love
B
B
LeGuenno
F B
FB
Sinoussi
D K
DK
Dube
D000350:Africa, Central; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002521:Cercopithecus / Q000382:microbiology*; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D015368:Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D015303:Simian T-lymphotropic virus 1 / Q000235:genetics*
D004279:DNA, Viral