title: Genetic variability of human immunodeficiency virus type 2 C2V3 region within and between individuals from Bissau, Guinea-Bissau, West Africa.
abstract: The V3 loop of both HIV-1 and HIV-2 is characterized by a high degree of genetic variation. To investigate the spectrum of HIV-2 variability in nature we have focused on the C2V3 region of Env and analyzed 108 viral sequences obtained from uncultured peripheral blood mononuclear cells obtained from 16 HIV-2-seropositive individuals from Bissau (Guinea-Bissau). The estimated values of genetic divergence between individuals were higher than those calculated from sequence information collected in a single individual. We have also found that the sequences surrounding the V3 loop contribute significantly to the overall genetic diversity of the C2V3 region of HIV-2 gp105, while the V3 loop itself seems to be rather conserved. Phylogenetic analysis demonstrated that all the individuals enrolled in this study were infected with HIV-2 subtype A viruses.
authors.affiliation: Unidade de Virologia/Unidade de Parasitologia e Microbiologia Médicas, Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal. Ricardo@ihmt.unl.pt
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Parreira
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Esteves
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Santos
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Piedade
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Venenno
authors.forename: W F
authors.initials: WF
authors.lastname: Canas-Ferreira
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D014644:Genetic Variation / Q000235:genetics*; D006169:Guinea-Bissau / Q000453:epidemiology; D015699:HIV Envelope Protein gp120 / Q000235:genetics*; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D015498:HIV-2 / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000235:genetics*; D010802:Phylogeny
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral; D015699:HIV Envelope Protein gp120; C059762:HIV envelope protein gp120 (305-321); D010446:Peptide Fragments