title: Analysis of CCR5Delta32 geographic distribution and its correlation with some climatic and geographic factors.
abstract: We studied the possible effects of climatic-geographic factors on the world distribution of the mutant allele for the chemokine receptor gene CCR5, which has a 32-bp deletion (CCR5Delta32) preventing cell invasion by the primary transmitting strain of HIV-1. New data on CCR5 polymorphisms in Russian, Ukrainian, and Moldavian populations are presented. All available data on CCR5Delta32 frequencies in the Old World (number of populations n = 77) were used for construction of a geographical gene map to analyze possible correlations between allele frequencies and eight climatic-geographic parameters. A strong positive correlation was found between the allele frequency and latitude (r = 0.72), a strong negative correlation with annual radiation balance (r = -0.66), and a weaker negative correlation with longitude (r = -0.34). Partial correlations were calculated excluding the influence of latitude. The negative correlation between the allele frequency and annual radiation balance decreased (r = -0.42), but remained large and significant. We propose that the existence of correlations between the cline of CCR5Delta32 frequencies and climatic-geographic parameters provides evidence for a possible effect of either natural environmental factors or large-scale population movements on the distribution of this allele.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular Genetics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia. limbor@img.ras.ru
authors.forename: Svetlana A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Limborska
authors.forename: Oleg P
authors.initials: OP
authors.lastname: Balanovsky
authors.forename: Elena V
authors.initials: EV
authors.lastname: Balanovskaya
authors.forename: Peter A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Slominsky
authors.forename: Maria I
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Schadrina
authors.forename: Ludmila A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Livshits
authors.forename: Sergey A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Kravchenko
authors.forename: Vladimir M
authors.initials: VM
authors.lastname: Pampuha
authors.forename: Elza K
authors.initials: EK
authors.lastname: Khusnutdinova
authors.forename: Victor A
authors.initials: VA
authors.lastname: Spitsyn
mesh_terms: D002980:Climate; D005787:Gene Frequency; D006801:Humans; D008966:Moldova / Q000453:epidemiology; D019713:Receptors, CCR5 / Q000235:genetics*; D012426:Russia / Q000453:epidemiology; D017384:Sequence Deletion; D013696:Temperature; D014455:Ukraine / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D019713:Receptors, CCR5