Identification of Non-B Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Subtypes in Rural Georgia

• Published in: The Journal of infectious diseases Vol. 183; no. 1; pp. 138 - 142
• Main Authors: Womack, Chad, Roth, William, Newman, Cheryl, Rissing, J. Peter, Lovell, Roger, Haburchak, David, Essex, Max, Bond, V. Craig
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chicago, IL The University of Chicago Press 01.01.2001; University of Chicago Press; Oxford University Press
• Subjects: Adult; AIDS; Antibacterial agents; Antibiotics. Antiinfectious agents. Antiparasitic agents; Biological and medical sciences; Concise Communication; Genes, pol; Genotype; Genotypes; Geographic regions; HIV; HIV 1; HIV Infections - epidemiology; HIV Infections - virology; HIV-1 - classification; HIV-1 - genetics; human immunodeficiency virus 1; Human viral diseases; Humans; Infections; Infectious diseases; Medical sciences; Molecular Epidemiology; Molecular Sequence Data; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Phylogenetics; Phylogeny; pol gene; Polymerase chain reaction; RNA, Viral - genetics; Rural populations; United States - epidemiology; USA, Georgia; Viral diseases; Viral diseases of the lymphoid tissue and the blood. Aids; Georgia; United States; North America; America; Human; Origin; Immunopathology; Recombination; RNA-directed DNA polymerase; HIV-1 virus; Enzyme; Transferases; Retroviridae; AIDS; Phylogeny; Lentivirus; DNA-directed RNA polymerase; Immune deficiency; Infection; Virus; Nucleotidyltransferases; Gene; Viral disease; Human immunodeficiency virus
• ISSN: 0022-1899; 1537-6613
• DOI: 10.1086/317649

As part of an ongoing molecular epidemiological investigation of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) in rural Georgia, the 5′ half of reverse transcriptase (RT) genotypes from 30 patients was sequenced and phylogenetically analyzed. Two patients, GA132 and GA169, were infected with pol sequences of non-B subtype origin that were found to cluster phylogenetically with subtype A-E of Thai origin. Sliding window bootstrap analysis of GA169 showed clear evidence of A/B recombination within the pol gene segment, whereas in the other patient, GA132, no break point within RT could be identified. Interestingly, pairwise comparisons between these 2 patients' C2-V3 env region revealed a 13.5% divergence. However, similar comparisons within the non-B pol segments yielded a 1.23% nucleotide divergence, which suggests a complex phylogenetic and epidemiological history of the subtype A pol genotype in this region. These data demonstrate an increasing diversity of HIV-1 subtypes and the potential emergence of previously unidentified HIV-1 A-E/B recombinants in the rural United States.