CRF22_01A1 is Involved in the Emergence of New HIV-1 Recombinants in Cameroon

Abstract

Cameroon is a West African country where high genetic diversity of HIV-1 has been reported. The predominant CRF02_AG is involved in the emergence of more complex intersubtype recombinants. In this study, we sequenced the full-length genome of a novel unique recombinant form (URF) of HIV-1, 02CAMLT04 isolated in blood donors in urban Cameroon. Phylogenetic tree and bootscan analysis showed that 02CAMLT04 was complex and appeared to be a secondary recombinant derived from CRF02_AG and CRF22_01A1. The genomic composition of 02CAMLT04 strain showed that it is composed of three segments; twenty four percent of the genome is classified as CRF02_AG, spanning most of the envelope gene. The remaining seventy six percent of the genome is classified as CRF22_01A1. In addition, the sequence analysis of 13 full-length sequences from HIV-1 positive specimens received from Cameroon between 2002 and 2010 indicated that five specimens are pure CRF22_01A1 viruses, and six others have homology with CRF22_01A1 sequences in either gag, pol or env region where as 6% of strains contain portions of CRF22_01A1. Further study demonstrated that CRF22_01A1 is a primary prevalence strain co-circulating in Cameroon and is involved in complex intersubtype recombination events with subtypes (D or F), subsubtypes (A1 or F2) and CRFs (CRF01_AE or CRF02_AG). Our studies show that novel recombinants between CRF22_01A1 and other clades and recombinant forms may be emerging in Cameroon that could contribute to the future global diversity of HIV-1 in this region and world wide.

Molecular and Genetic Characterization of HIV-1 Tat Exon-1 Gene from Cameroon Shows Conserved Tat HLA-Binding Epitopes: Functional Implications

“…There have been reports of other CRF22_01A1 recombinants in Cameroon; analyses of gag, pol, and env sequences in samples from infected Cameroonians showed recombinants of CRF22_01A1 with CRF02_AG, CRF11_cpx, and clades A [ 66 , 67 ], confirming recombination hotspots between HIV-1 strains circulating in Cameroon. In fact, genetic recombination often occurs at hotspot regions; hotspot motifs are found at breakpoint regions and are associated with genomic instability and evolution [ 68 , 69 ].…”

Near full genome characterization of HIV‐1 unique recombinant forms in Cameroon reveals dominant CRF02_AG and F2 recombination patterns

“…For all URFs, the frameworks were exclusively built of CRF02_AG or F2 sequences. While CRF02_AG has been well documented to be the predominant lineage and the major fundament of recombinant strains in Cameroon , F2 is less known, and the growing influence of F2 in the URF genetic pool only recently became evident . Within the last two decades, F2 infections have steadily increased in Cameroon and spread beyond the Cameroonian borders in West and Central Africa , which likely promoted the involvement of F2 sequences in emerging recombinant forms.…”

Development of a contemporary globally diverse HIV viral panel by the EQAPOL program

“…Thirty-three viral supernatants were obtained from the Centre for AIDS Reagents, NIBSC HPA UK, supported by the EC FP6/7 Europrise Network of Excellence, and NGIN consortia and the Bill and Melinda Gates GHRCCAVD Project and were donated by Lucia Pérez Alvarez (Instituto de Salud Carlos III) (Fernandez-Garcia et al, 2009; Cuevas et al, 2010; Fernandez-Garcia et al, 2010; Delgado et al, 2012; Thomson et al, 2012; Diez-Fuertes et al, 2013). Twenty-three culture supernatants from donors in Cameroon, Spain, USA and Germany were kindly provided by Indira Hewlett (CBER, FDA) (Vallejo et al, 2003; Ragupathy et al, 2011; Zhao et al, 2012). Additionally, EQAPOL received 12 Infectious Molecular Clones (IMCs) made and contributed by the Beatrice Hahn and George Shaw Laboratories (University of Pennsylvania) from plasma collected from acute donors (four Fiebig I, two Fiebig II, one Fiebig III, and four Fiebig IV) in Uganda and Rwanda by IAVI and the Uganda Virus Research Institute-British Medical Research Council program on HIV/AIDS (UVRI/MRC) (Price et al, 2011; Tang et al, 2011; Price et al, 2012; Baalwa et al, 2013).…”