title: Predominance of a rare type of HIV-1 in Estonia.
abstract: An earlier study has indicated that a complex recombinant HIV-1 strain dominates the epidemic in Estonia. The objective of this study was to further investigate the molecular epidemiology and genetic structure of HIV-1 in Estonia. Most of the investigated individuals became infected after August 2000 when HIV-1 started to spread rapidly among Estonian intravenous drug users (IDUs). Two viral DNA regions, gag/pol and gp41, were sequenced and subtyped from peripheral blood mononuclear cells or plasma from 141 individuals. Phylogenetic analysis in the gp41 region revealed that the most frequent type of the virus among IDUs was a circulating recombinant form, CRF06_cpx, whereas a few samples showed highest sequence similarity to a subtype A strain circulating in Ukraine and Russia. Likewise, in the gag/pol region, most of the samples were classified as CRF06_cpx, with a few classified as subtype A. In this region, however, 16% of the sequences turned out to be mosaic unique recombinant forms consisting of CRF06_cpx and subtype A. At least 9 mosaic forms were identified, each with distinct patterns of multiple crossover. To characterize Estonian CRF06_cpx as well as recombinant isolates in more detail, 4 near-full-length HIV-1 genomes were sequenced.
authors.affiliation: FIT Biotech Oyj Plc Eesti, Tartu, Estonia. mart.ustav@fitbiotech.com
authors.forename: Maarja
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Adojaan
authors.forename: Toomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kivisild
authors.forename: Andres
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Männik
authors.forename: Tõnu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Krispin
authors.forename: Valentina
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Ustina
authors.forename: Kai
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zilmer
authors.forename: Elo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Liebert
authors.forename: Nikolai
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Jaroslavtsev
authors.forename: Ludmilla
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Priimägi
authors.forename: Valentina
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Tefanova
authors.forename: Jelena
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.forename: Kai
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Krohn
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Villems
authors.forename: Mika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Salminen
authors.forename: Mart
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ustav
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D004957:Estonia / Q000453:epidemiology; D015685:Fusion Proteins, gag-pol / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D016679:Genome, Viral; D005838:Genotype; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D015819:Substance Abuse, Intravenous / Q000150:complications
chemical_list: D015685:Fusion Proteins, gag-pol