6th International AIDS Conference


San Francisco, California, USA — June 20-23, 1990

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Strain-specific DNA probes and sequence determination to study the transmission and evolution of HIV-1.

Int Conf AIDS 1990 Jun 20-23; 6:325 (abstract no. 1044)
Luo CC, Robbins K, Moore JL, Villamarzo Y, Hosburgh CR Jr, Schochetman G, Ou CY; Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

OBJECTIVE: To study the transmission and evolution of HIV-1 using strain-specific probes and polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

METHODS: An HIV envelope segment was amplified directly from lymphocytes of infected persons by PCR. Amplified DNAs containing the V4, C3 and V5 regions were cloned and their sequences determined. HIV sequences from sexual partners and from their sequential specimens were compared. Strain-specific DNA probes were developed to study the presence of HIV variants in infected populations.

RESULTS: In addition to base substitutions, short deletions and duplications were frequently found in the V4 and V5 regions. The size of the duplications and deletions was in multiples of 3 indicating that the proviral DNAs were not defective. Strain-specific oligomer probes were shown to effectively differentiate HIV-1 variants in different persons. Lymphocytes from a homosexual man were shown to have several HIV-1 variants which appeared to evolve from a common variant. In contrast, his sexual partner had only one homogeneous HIV-1 strain.

CONCLUSION: Using PCR to amplify HIV DNA from the lymphocytes of HIV-1 infected persons allows a detailed analysis of HIV transmission and evolution. Most, if not all, of the proviral sequences in infected persons did not appear to be defective.

Keywords: AEGIS, HIV-1, Sequence Analysis, DNA Probes, Evolution, HIV Infections, HIV, Polymerase Chain Reaction, Variation (Genetics), HIV Antibodies, HIV Envelope Protein gp120, Homosexuality, HIV Core Protein p24, Sexual Partners, HIV Seropositivity, Lymphocytes, Human, Male, transmission, genetics, ICA6

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