Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1991. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Natural infection of West African green monkeys with a unique SIVAGM subtype.
Symp Nonhum Primate Models AIDS. 1990 Nov 28-30;8:24 (abstract no. 8). Unique Identifier : AIDSLINE PRIM8/900008 Allan JS; Short M; Taylor M; Su S; Hirsch V; Johnson P; Shaw G; Hahn B; Department of Virology and Immunology, Southwest Foundation for; Biomedical Research, San Antonio, Texas
Abstract:
African green monkeys harbor a lentivirus related to human AIDS viruses in genomic organization, their gene products, cellular tropism and cytopathology for CD4 bearing T lymphocytes. In contrast to HIV-1, the simian viruses (SIVagm) vary to a much greater degree in nucleotide sequence than HIV-1 strains. African green monkeys are represented by four major superspecies which inhabit subsaharan Africa of which all previous studies have focused on East African types. We therefore isolated Simian Immunodeficiency viruses from four monkeys inhabiting West Africa (Cercopithecus aethiops sabaeus) and compared them with previously characterized SIVagm viruses from two superspecies groups (C.a. aethiops and C.a. pygerythrus) located in East Africa both by phenotype and genotype. Distinct differences were noted in the size of the gag gene product, p24, which correlated with the superspecies of African green monkey. Biologically, the SIVagm(sab) isolates behaved like their East African counterparts in their ability to infect only a subset of human CD4+ human T cell lines. PCR amplification, cloning and nucleotide sequencing of a selected highly conserved pol gene region from uncultured lymphocytes from infected West African green monkeys was used to compare the relatedness of these new viruses with SIVagm viruses from two East African superspecies. Our results reveal the existence of a phylogenetically unique subtype of SIVagm in West Africa and support our previous hypothesis that SIVagm may have evolved coincident with the divergence of various types of African green monkeys. Furthermore, African green monkeys may have been infected with SIVagm viruses for many centuries, even before they migrated and segregated into specific areas of subsaharan Africa. These results have important implications in our understanding of the emergence of immunodeficiency viruses in nonhuman primates and suggest that analysis of SIVagm genetic variation may provide a useful tool in determining the phylogeny of this family of primate lentiviruses.
Keywords: Animal Cell Line Cercopithecus aethiops Cloning, Molecular Lymphocytes/MICROBIOLOGY *Phylogeny Polymerase Chain Reaction Simian Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome/*GENETICS Species Specificity SIV/*GENETICS/ISOLATION & PURIF Variation (Genetics) ABSTRACT 910730
M9170986
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Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1991. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
