Characterization of the South African HIV type 1 subtype C complete 5′ long terminal repeat, nef, and regulatory genes

Date
2002
Authors
Scriba T.J.
De Villiers T.
Treurnicht F.K.
Zur Megede J.
Barnett S.W.
Engelbrecht S.
Van Rensburg E.J.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
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Abstract
Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) subtype C has become the major etiological agent in the global and especially African epidemic. To gain better understanding of the genetic diversity and rapid transmission of HIV-1 subtype C, we have characterized the complete 5′ long terminal repeat (LTR) region along with the regulatory genestat andrev as well as the accessory genenef of 14 South African HIV-1 subtype C isolates. Phylogenetic analysis revealed a subtype C 5′ LTR cluster, as well as subclustering of ournef sequences with various subtype C strains separate from the India and China subclusters. At least 3 NF-κB sites were present in the 5′ LTR of most isolates and 13 isolates had the subtype C-specific Rev truncation. Some length variation in exon 2 and the absence of a critical cysteine were found in Tat. Residue variation in the myris-toylation signal and motifs involved in CD4 and MHC-I downregulation was recorded in our nef gene sequences.
Description
Keywords
CD4 antigen, cysteine, immunoglobulin enhancer binding protein, article, China, controlled study, down regulation, exon, gene sequence, Human immunodeficiency virus 1, India, long terminal repeat, major histocompatibility complex, myristylation, nonhuman, nucleotide sequence, phylogeny, priority journal, regulator gene, South Africa, virus characterization, virus gene, virus isolation, virus strain, Africa, Southern, Amino Acid Sequence, Genes, nef, Genes, rev, Genes, tat, HIV Infections, HIV Long Terminal Repeat, HIV-1, Humans, Molecular Sequence Data, Sequence Alignment, Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
Citation
AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses
18
2