HIV-1 CRF07_BC became prevalent in Taiwan after the epidemic among injection drug users (IDUs). We describe a unique recombinant form (URF) consisting of CRF01_AE and CRF07_BC (named URF_0107-H8) genes detected from an IDU. The 8.8kb near full-length genome of URF_0107-H8 had a CRF01_AE backbone with two CRF07_BC fragments in the reverse transcriptase and integrase region (RT-Int; HXB2 nucleotide (nt) positions 2942-4709) and within the envelop (nt 8467-8722) gene. Phylogenetic analyses revealed that its 1.8kb RT-Int sequence clustered with those of CRF07_BC strains from Taiwan, while sequences of CRF01_AE portions were more similar to those of Central Africa origin than contemporaneous CRF01_AE isolates in Taiwan or prevalent in East or Southeast Asia. Recombination breakpoints and phylogenetic relationships of URF_0107-H8 were different from those of CRF01_AE/CRF07_BC URFs previously reported from China. This highlighted the importance of continual monitoring of genetic evolution of HIV strains and the emergence of new recombinants.
Date:
2016-06
Relation:
AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses. 2016 Jun;32(6):588-594.
