title: Genetic subtypes of HIV type 1 based on the vpu/env sequences in the Republic of Congo.
abstract: To investigate the HIV-1 subtypes prevalent in the Republic of Congo, we isolated 28 HIV-1 strains from Congolese AIDS patients in 1996 and 1997, and analyzed them phylogenetically. Phylogenetic analysis based on part of the 5' tat-env (vpu) and env sequences revealed that only 13 (46.4%) of the 28 isolates belonged to the same subtype in the vpu tree as in the env tree; the remaining 15 (53.6%) strains showed discordant subtypes between vpu and env with 6 different profiles; that is, 1 A/A (vpu/env), 1 D/D, 5 G/G, 4 H/H, 2 unclassified (U)/U, 9 G/A, 2 G/H, 1 G/J, 1 H/G, 1 U/A, and 1 U/J. Thus, 9 of the 15 discordant HIV-1s were of the G/A (vpu/env) type, and did not form any subcluster within the subtype G lineage in the vpu-based phylogenetic tree. In addition, CRF02_AG (IbNG), which is a G/A (vpu/env) type, was not found in the Republic of Congo. These data suggest that the majority of HIV-1 subtypes circulating in the Republic of Congo have mosaic structures and may have been derived from independent recombinational events.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Viral Pathogenesis, Institute for Virus Research, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8507, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Taniguchi
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Takehisa
authors.forename: Blaise
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bikandou
authors.forename: Innocent
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Mboudjeka
authors.forename: Marie-Yvonne
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: N'Doundou-N'Kodia
authors.lastname: Obengui
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: M'Pandi
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: M'Pelé
authors.forename: Yosuke
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Harada
authors.forename: Eiji
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ido
authors.forename: Masanori
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hayami
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ichimura
authors.forename: Henri Joseph
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Parra
mesh_terms: D020121:5' Untranslated Regions / Q000235:genetics; D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D003223:Congo / Q000453:epidemiology; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D015752:Genes, env; D016338:Genes, vpu; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D020121:5' Untranslated Regions; D004279:DNA, Viral