Darwinian evolution operates on the V3 region of HIV within a single host. NLM AIDSLINE Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1994. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

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Darwinian evolution operates on the V3 region of HIV within a single host.

Int Conf AIDS. 1994 Aug 7-12;10(1):112 (abstract no. PA0066). Unique Identifier : AIDSLINE ICA10/94369296
Yamaguchi Y; Gojobori T; National Institute of Genetics, Shizuoka, Japan.

Abstract: OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to elucidate the mechanisms of molecular evolution of the third variable envelope (V3) region for HIV within a single host. In particular, we intend to examine the patterns of nucleotide substitutions in this region to see whether positive selection is operating on the V3 region. METHODS: We constructed phylogenetic trees by use of nucleotide sequences of HIV within a host. We examined whether nonsynonymous (amino acid altering) substitutions are occurring with a frequency higher than synonymous (silent) substitutions. RESULTS: Our statistical test showed that for the V3 region, the average number of nonsynonymous substitutions was significantly larger than that of synonymous substitutions. It suggests that Darwinian evolution is operating on the V3 region. For the entire env gene, however, the number of synonymous substitutions was larger than that of nonsynonymous substitutions, implying that neutral evolution is occurring in the entire env gene. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: Our observations indicate that Darwinian evolution may be operating on the V3 region for HIV, although neutral evolution is occuring in the entire env gene.
Keywords: *Evolution *Genes, env Human HIV/*GENETICS/ISOLATION & PURIF HIV Envelope Protein gp120/*GENETICS HIV Infections/MICROBIOLOGY Peptide Fragments/*GENETICS Phylogeny Variation (Genetics) ABSTRACTKWDevolutionKWDgenes,envhumanhiv/KWDgenetics/isolation&purifhivenvelopeproteingp120/KWDgeneticshivinfections/microbiologypeptidefragments/KWDgeneticsphylogenyvariation(genetics)abstract
941230
M94C4089

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