title: Full-length gag sequences of HIV type 1 subtype C recent seroconverters from Pune, India.
abstract: Although HIV-1 subtype C is the most prevalent subtype worldwide, data on subtype C viruses are rather limited. Very little information is available on the complete HIV-1 subtype C gag sequences from India. We report full-length gag (p55) sequences from six Indian early seroconverters. The samples were collected within few weeks of seroconversion and may represent immunologically naive viruses. The comparison of p55 sequences with other Indian and non-Indian subtype C sequences as well as with nonsubtype C sequences obtained from the Los Alamos database revealed gag as a well-conserved region of the HIV genome (range: 84-95%). The phylogenetic tree indicated that the sequences compared here cluster together within clade C. Two epitopes in the p24 region of the gag gene were subtype C specific while many epitopes in the same region were also present in other clades. The data on HIV-1 subtype C full-length gag sequences would be useful in the design and evaluation of effective subtype C-based HIV vaccines.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Virology, National AIDS Research Institute, Pune, India.
authors.forename: Swarali
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kurle
authors.forename: Srikanth
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tripathy
authors.forename: Sushama
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jadhav
authors.forename: Kalpana
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Agnihotri
authors.forename: Ramesh
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Paranjape
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D005260:Female; D015683:Gene Products, gag / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics*; D006679:HIV Seropositivity / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D011498:Protein Precursors / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D015683:Gene Products, gag; D011498:Protein Precursors; C059767:p55 gag precursor protein, Human immunodeficiency virus 1