title: Pattern of the evolution of HIV-1 enν gene in Côte d׳Ivoire.
abstract: Cête d׳Ivoire continues to have the highest HIV-1 prevalence rate in West Africa, although the infection number is in constant decline. The external envelope protein of the viruses is a likely site of selection, and responsible for receptor binding and entry into host cells, and therefore constitutes an ideal region with which to investigate the evolutionary processes acting on HIV-1. In this study, we analyse 189 envelope glycoprotein V3 loop region sequences of viruse isolates from 1995 to 2009, from HIV-1 untreated patients living in Cête d׳Ivoire, to decipher the temporal relationship between disease diversity, divergence and selection. Our analyses show that the nonsynonymous and synonymous ratio (dN/dS) was lower than 1 for viral populations analysed within 15 years, which showed the sequences did not undergo adequate immune pressure. The phylogenetic tree of the sequences analysed demonstrated distinctly long internal branches and short external branches, suggesting that only a small number of viruses infected the new host cell at each transmission. In addition to identifying sites under purifying selection, we also identified neutral sites that can cause false positive inference of selection. These sites presented form a resource for future studies of selection pressures acting on HIV-1 enν gene in Cête d׳Ivoire and other West African countries.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Génétique, UFR Biosciences, Université Félix Houphouët Boigny, Abidjan, Cête d׳Ivoire, 22 BP 582 Abidjan 22 ; Centre Suisse de Recherches Scientifiques en Cête d׳Ivoire, 01 BP 1303 Abidjan 01.
authors.forename: Sery Gonedelé
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Bi
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Génétique, UFR Biosciences, Université Félix Houphouët Boigny, Abidjan, Cête d׳Ivoire, 22 BP 582 Abidjan 22.
authors.forename: Didier P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Sokouri
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Génétique, UFR Biosciences, Université Félix Houphouët Boigny, Abidjan, Cête d׳Ivoire, 22 BP 582 Abidjan 22.
authors.forename: Kouakou
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tiékoura
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Génétique, UFR Biosciences, Université Félix Houphouët Boigny, Abidjan, Cête d׳Ivoire, 22 BP 582 Abidjan 22.
authors.forename: Oulo Alla
authors.initials: OA
authors.lastname: NNan
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Génétique, UFR Biosciences, Université Félix Houphouët Boigny, Abidjan, Cête d׳Ivoire, 22 BP 582 Abidjan 22.
authors.forename: Marcel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lolo
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Génétique, UFR Biosciences, Université Félix Houphouët Boigny, Abidjan, Cête d׳Ivoire, 22 BP 582 Abidjan 22.
authors.forename: Félix
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gnangbé
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Génétique, UFR Biosciences, Université Félix Houphouët Boigny, Abidjan, Cête d׳Ivoire, 22 BP 582 Abidjan 22.
authors.forename: Assanvo Sp
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: NGuetta
keywords: Cête d׳Ivoire; HIV-1; diversity; enν gene; selection