Va. Novitsky et al., Molecular cloning and phylogenetic analysis of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 subtype C: a set of 23 full-length clones from Botswana, J VIROLOGY, 73(5), 1999, pp. 4427-4432
To better understand the virological aspect of the expanding AIDS epidemic
in southern Africa, a set of 23 near-full-length clones of human immunodefi
ciency virus type 1 (HIV-1) representing eight AIDS patients from Botswana
were sequenced and analyzed phylogenetically. All study viruses from Botswa
na belonged to HIV-1 subtype C. The interpatient diversity of the clones fr
om Botswana was higher than among full-length isolates of subtype B or amon
g a set of full-length HIV-1 genomes of subtype C from India (mean value of
9.1% versus 6.5 and 4.3%, respectively; P < 0.0001 for both comparisons).
Similar results were observed in all genes across the entire viral genome.
We suggest that the high level of HIV-1 diversity might be a typical featur
e of the sub type C epidemic in southern Africa. The reason or reasons for
this diversity are unclear, but may include an altered replication efficien
cy of HIV-1 subtype C and/or the multiple introduction of different subtype
C viruses.