title: High diversity of HIV-1 subtype F strains in Central Africa.
abstract: In this paper, we studied the variability of HIV-1 subtype F strains in Africa. For 11 viruses, mainly of Central African origin, different parts of the genome were genetically characterized. For all strains the V3-V5 region of the envelope gene was sequenced, and for 7 strains, the entire envelope gene was studied. For 10 strains, the p24 region of the gag gene was also sequenced. For each region studied, three subgroups in the F subtype were identified, F1, F2, and F3. These three subgroups were supported by high bootstrap values and the intra- and inter-subgroup F distances were comparable to those obtained for the known subtypes A, B, C, D, E, G, and H. In subgroup F1, some African strains clustered with previously described strains from Brazil and Romania, suggesting an African origin of the HIV-1 epidemic in these countries. A more detailed analysis of the gag and the envelope sequences allowed the identification of four recombinant viruses. Our data show a high diversity among subtype F strains, suggesting the presence of new subtypes in the regions studied. If biological differences exist among subtypes, it is important that these subtypes be well defined. The data from our study show that there is a need to clearly identify the different subgroups within the F subtype.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire Retrovirus, IRD (Institut pour le Recherche en Developpement, ex-ORSTOM), Montpellier, France.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Triques
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bourgeois
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Saragosti
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Vidal
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mpoudi-Ngole
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nzilambi
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Apetrei
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ekwalanga
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Delaporte
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Peeters
mesh_terms: D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D014644:Genetic Variation; D016679:Genome, Viral; D016655:HIV Core Protein p24 / Q000235:genetics; D015699:HIV Envelope Protein gp120 / Q000235:genetics; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000235:genetics; D010802:Phylogeny; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017421:Sequence Analysis
chemical_list: D016655:HIV Core Protein p24; D015699:HIV Envelope Protein gp120; C059762:HIV envelope protein gp120 (305-321); D010446:Peptide Fragments