       Document 0794
 DOCN  M9610794
 TI    A genetic analysis of HIV-1 from Punjab, India reveals the presence of
       multiple variants.
 DT    9601
 AU    Jameel S; Zafrullah M; Ahmad M; Kapoor GS; Sehgal S; International
       Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology,; Aruna Asaf Ali Marg,
       New Delhi, India.
 SO    AIDS. 1995 Jul;9(7):685-90. Unique Identifier : AIDSLINE MED/96035229
 AB    OBJECTIVE: To determine the extent of HIV-1 genetic variation in Indian
       patients. DESIGN: To avoid any bias in selecting viral variants, HIV-1
       DNA was amplified directly from the peripheral blood mononuclear cells
       of patients and sequenced. Genetic similarity between Indian sequences
       and other geographic isolates was analysed by phylogenetic analysis
       algorithms. METHODS: A fragment encompassing the C2/V3-V5 regions of
       HIV-1 gp120 was amplified from the lymphocyte DNA of 12 Indian patients.
       Multiple clones from each patient were sequenced. Nucleotide sequences
       encompassing about 650 base pairs were aligned for the Indian and other
       geographically distinct isolates. Inter-isolate relationships were
       analysed by means of distance, parsimony and neighbour-joining
       algorithms. RESULTS: Nucleotide sequence comparisons showed low
       interpatient variation. Amino-acid comparisons revealed a high degree of
       homology between Indian sequences in this study and those studied
       earlier. On distance and parsimony trees, most of the Indian sequences
       clustered together as subtype C. However, sequences from three patients
       also showed significant homologies and phylogenetic clustering outside
       of subtype C. CONCLUSIONS: The predominant strain of HIV-1 in India
       belongs to subtype C and little interpatient nucleotide sequence
       divergence in the majority of cases suggests recent spread of HIV-1 in
       this region. This study also presents the first evidence for non-C
       subtypes in the Indian population with two epidemiologically linked
       samples remaining unclassified for any existing env subtype. The
       presence of variant subtypes in Indian patients sheds light on the
       transmission routes of HIV-1 to India and emphasizes the need to include
       these sequences in vaccine development strategies.
 DE    Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome/*GENETICS  Adolescence  Adult  Aged
       Amino Acid Sequence  Base Sequence  Female  Genes, env  Genetic
       Heterogeneity  Human  HIV Envelope Protein gp120/GENETICS
       HIV-1/CLASSIFICATION/*GENETICS  India  Male  Middle Age  Molecular
       Sequence Data  Phylogeny  Polymerase Chain Reaction  Sequence Alignment
       Support, Non-U.S. Gov't  JOURNAL ARTICLE

       SOURCE: National Library of Medicine.  NOTICE: This material may be
       protected by Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.Code).

