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Human infection by genetically diverse SIVSM-related HIV-2 in West Africa

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Abstract

OUR understanding of the biology and origins of human immunodeficiency virus type 2 (HIV-2) derives from studies of cultured isolates from urban populations experiencing epidemic infection and disease1–8. To test the hypothesis that such isolates might represent only a subset of a larger, genetically more diverse group of viruses, we used nested polymerase chain reactions to characterize HIV-2 sequences in uncultured mononuclear blood cells of two healthy Liberian agricultural workers, from whom virus isolation was repeatedly unsuccessful, and from a culture-positive symptomatic urban dweller. Analysis of pol, env and long terminal repeat regions revealed the presence of three highly divergent HIV-2 strains, one of which (from one of the healthy subjects) was significantly more closely related to simian immunodeficiency viruses infecting sooty mangabeys and rhesus macaques (SIVSM/SIVMAC) than to any virus of human derivation. This subject also harboured multiply defective viral genotypes that resulted from hypermutation of G to A bases. Our results indicate that HIV-2, SIVSM and SIVMAC comprise a single, highly diverse group of lentiviruses which cannot be separated into distinct phylogenetic lineages according to species of origin.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, 35294, USA

    Feng Gao, Ling Yue, Albert T. White, Peter G. Pappas, Joseph Barchue, Aloysius P. Hanson, Bruce M. Greene, Paul M. Sharp, George M. Shaw & Beatrice H. Hahn

  2. Division of Hematology/Oncology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, 35294, USA

    Feng Gao, Ling Yue & Beatrice H. Hahn

  3. Division of Geographic Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, 35294, USA

    Albert T. White & Bruce M. Greene

  4. Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, 35294, USA

    Peter G. Pappas

  5. Liberian Institute for Biomedical Research, Robertsfield, Liberia

    Joseph Barchue & Aloysius P. Hanson

  6. Department of Genetics, Trinity College, Dublin, 2, Ireland

    Paul M. Sharp

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  1. Feng Gao
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Gao, F., Yue, L., White, A. et al. Human infection by genetically diverse SIVSM-related HIV-2 in West Africa. Nature 358, 495–499 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1038/358495a0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/358495a0

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