THE GENETIC DIVERSIFICATION OF THE HIV TYPE-1 GAG P17 GENE IN PATIENTS INFECTED FROM A COMMON SOURCE

An evolutionary analysis was undertaken of HIV-1 gag p17 sequences tak en from a small cohort of hemophilia B patients infected from a common batch of clotting factor concentrate. The sequence population found a t seroconversion was highly homogeneous, suggesting that the infecting batch also contained little sequence variation. Genetic diversificati on was found in follow-up sequences taken approximately 3 years later and was generally found to be complex. Greater rates of synonymous to nonsynonymous substitution were observed, especially when comparing di stantly related isolates, and the rate of synonymous substitution was used to estimate times of divergence for a number of isolates of HIV-1 including the origin of the subtypes A to H. The p17 region is theref ore proposed as a useful marker for future epidemiological studies.