title: CRF22_01A1 is involved in the emergence of new HIV-1 recombinants in Cameroon.
abstract: Cameroon is a West African country where high genetic diversity of HIV-1 has been reported. The predominant CRF02_AG is involved in the emergence of more complex intersubtype recombinants. In this study, we sequenced the full-length genome of a novel unique recombinant form of HIV-1, 02CAMLT04 isolated in blood donors in urban Cameroon. Phylogenetic tree and bootscan analysis showed that 02CAMLT04 was complex and seemed to be a secondary recombinant derived from CRF02_AG and CRF22_01A1. The genomic composition of 02CAMLT04 strain showed that it is composed of 3 segments; 24% of the genome is classified as CRF02_AG, spanning most of the envelope gene. The remaining 76% of the genome is classified as CRF22_01A1. In addition, the sequence analysis of 13 full-length sequences from HIV-1-positive specimens received from Cameroon between 2002 and 2010 indicated that 5 specimens are pure CRF22_01A1 viruses, and 6 others have homology with CRF22_01A1 sequences in either gag, pol, or env region, whereas 6% of strains contain portions of CRF22_01A1. Further study demonstrated that CRF22_01A1 is a primary prevalence strain co-circulating in Cameroon and is involved in complex intersubtype recombination events with subtypes (D or F), subsubtypes (A1 or F2), and CRFs (CRF01_AE or CRF02_AG). Our studies show that novel recombinants between CRF22_01A1 and other clades and recombinant forms may be emerging in Cameroon that could contribute to the future global diversity of HIV-1 in this region and worldwide.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Molecular Virology, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, Food and Drug Administration, 8800 RockvillePike, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
authors.forename: Jiangqin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Shixing
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Viswanath
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Ragupathy
authors.forename: Durga
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gaddam
authors.forename: Xue
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Panhe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Phillipe N
authors.initials: PN
authors.lastname: Nyambi
authors.forename: Indira
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Hewlett
mesh_terms: D001782:Blood Donors; D002163:Cameroon / Q000453:epidemiology; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D016679:Genome, Viral; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D011995:Recombination, Genetic; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D014764:Viral Proteins