Genetic polymorphism of human herpesvirus-7 among human populations

The analysis of three human herpesvirus-7 (HHV-7) genes encoding phosphopro tein p100, glycoprotein B and major capsid protein respectively had previou sly shown the existence of distinct gene alleles, leading to the concept of HHV-7 variants. We have analysed the distribution of HHV-7 variants among 297 distinct subjects who belonged to different human populations from Afri ca, Asia, Europe and America. Two variants, designated Col and Co2, were fo und in 52% and 20% of studied subjects. Ten other variants, designated Co3- Co12, were less frequent and classified into two groups related to Col and Co2 respectively. While the former group was ubiquitous and the most freque nt in Africa and Asia, the latter one was predominantly found in European a nd Mongol populations. Despite the high stability of the HHV-7 genome, a fe w nucleotide substitutions at precise positions define distinct variants wh ich, to some extent, behave as markers of human populations.