title: Identification of a new HIV type 1 BF intersubtype circulating recombinant form (CRF44_BF) in Chile.
abstract: HIV-1 BF intersubtype recombinants are frequent in Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil, where among a high diversity of BF unique recombinant forms (URFs), eight circulating recombinant forms (CRFs) have been characterized. Here, we describe a new one, designated CRF44_BF, identified in HIV-1 samples from Chile. In a previous report, where partial pol sequences of 136 HIV-1 infections of Chilean subjects were analyzed, a phylogenetic cluster of HIV-1 recombinant BF viruses from 10 individuals, with coincident intersubtype recombination points, was detected. One virus of this cluster had been characterized along its near full-length genome. A second one, from an epidemiologically unlinked HIV-1-infected subject, is described here. Both genomes share identical mosaic structures, consisting of a predominantly subtype F1 genome with three fragments of subtype B. Coincident breakpoints and phylogenetic clustering of the newly identified CRF44_BF with CRF12_BF, CRF17_BF, and CRF38_BF support a common origin of different CRF_BFs identified in Argentina, Uruguay, and Chile.
authors.affiliation: Unit of Biology and Variability of HIV, Spanish National Center of Microbiology, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Majadahonda, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Delgado
authors.forename: Maritza
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ríos
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fernández
authors.forename: Lucía
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pérez-Alvarez
authors.forename: Rafael
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Nájera
authors.forename: Michael M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Thomson
mesh_terms: D002677:Chile; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D005260:Female; D016679:Genome, Viral; D005838:Genotype; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000821:virology*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D011995:Recombination, Genetic; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D054302:pol Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D054302:pol Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus