title: The identification of a complex A/G/I/J recombinant HIV type 1 virus in various West African countries.
abstract: In this sequence note we describe the full-length genome sequence of an HIV-1 isolate originating from the west African country of Mali. The phylogenetic tree analysis from the near full-length genome shows that the 95ML84 strain forms a separate cluster, supported by 100% of the bootstrap values, with the previously described A/G/J/? mosaic virus BFP90 from Burkina Faso. Additional analysis showed that throughout the genome the lowest diversity was seen between the 95ML84 and the BFP90 viruses, and bootscan analysis showed a similar complex genomic structure. In addition to the initial report describing the BFP90 virus as an A/G/J/? recombinant, our data show that for the BFP90 and 95ML84 strains the unclassified region corresponds to subtype I. The A/G/I/J BFP90 and 95ML84 strains represent the fifth and most complex circulating recombinant form of HIV-1 detected so far, and our data show its presence in various West African countries. Subtype I and J sequences, initially considered rare, seem to have broadened their geographical spread by way of these recombinant forms.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire Rétrovirus, Institut pour le Recherche en Developement, Montpellier, France.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Montavon
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bibollet-Ruche
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Robertson
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Koumare
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mulanga
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Esu-Williams
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Toure
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mboup
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Saman
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Delaporte
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Peeters
mesh_terms: D002050:Burkina Faso / Q000453:epidemiology; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D014644:Genetic Variation; D016679:Genome, Viral; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D008302:Mali / Q000453:epidemiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D011995:Recombination, Genetic