title: Intra-host diversity and emergence of unique GBV-C viral lineages in HIV infected subjects in central China.
abstract: GB virus C (GBV-C), which is highly prevalent among HIV/AIDS, seemed to slow the HIV disease progression. The HIV/GBV-C co-infected individuals may represent an interesting model for the investigation of the role played by HIV infection and/or the immune system in driving the evolution of the GBV-C viral populations. The present study investigated the prevalence and population dynamics of GB virus C in HIV infected individuals representing 13 geographic regions of Hubei Province of China. Approximately 37% of HIV-1 infected individuals were infected with GBV-C and genotype 3 is appeared to be predominant. Utilizing the 196 complete E2 nucleotide sequence data from 10 HIV/GBV-C infected individuals and employing coalescence based phylogenetic approaches; the present study has investigated the intra-host dynamics of GBV-C. The results revealed patient-specific unique GBV-C viral lineages and each viral lineage showed the evidence of rapid population expansion in respective HIV-1 infected patients, thus suggesting HIV-1 was unlikely to have been inhibiting effect on the GBV-C viral replication. GBV-C in all patients has experienced intense purifying selection, suggesting the GBV-C viral invasion and subsequent expansion within the HIV-1 infected hosts without any modification of the functional epitopes at their membrane protein. The finding of within host GBV-C recombinant sequences indicated recombination was one of the significant forces in the evolution and divergence of GBV-C.
authors.affiliation: College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Haoming
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Abinash
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Padhi
authors.forename: Junqiang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Xiaoyan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Gong
authors.forename: Po
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Tien
mesh_terms: D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000276:immunology; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D060085:Coinfection; D021821:Communicable Diseases, Emerging; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005260:Female; D018178:Flaviviridae Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D029407:GB virus C / Q000145:classification / Q000502:physiology*; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005838:Genotype; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006525:Hepatitis, Viral, Human / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D019562:Viral Load; D056189:Viral Tropism; D014779:Virus Replication
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins