Molecular Characterization of HIV-1 Isolated from a Serum Collected in 1976: Nucleotide Sequence Comparison to Recent Isolates and Generation of Hybrid HIV

Abstract

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (Z321 designate, HIV-1Z321), the oldest known HIV, was isolated from a serum sample collected in Zaire in 1976 and was molecularly cloned. Restriction enzyme analysis of unintegrated viral DNA revealed the presence of conserved restriction enzyme cleavage sites in the long terminal repeat sequences. Nucleotide sequence analysis of the 3' end of the viral DNA revealed a pattern similar to other HIV-1 isolates described. However, some of the common restriction sites present in other isolates were absent in HIV-1Z321. The extent of differences between HIV-1Z321 and recent isolates from North America and Zaire was 17.86-18.36% on the nucleotide sequence level and 26.5-33.2% difference in the predicted amino acid sequence in the envelope gene. Differences were also noted in 3'-orf (nef: according to HIV gene nomenclature; see Ref. 42) gene and U3 region of the long terminal repeat sequences of HIV-1Z321 and other isolates. Nucleotide sequence of a HIV-1 isolate, 12 years apart from the present isolates, will provide an important time calibration point for the evolutionary divergence of HIV isolates. Hybrid HIV was also generated by transfecting HIV-1Z321 and HIV-1HTLV-III viral DNAs into cells.

Unprecedented Degree of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 (HIV-1) Group M Genetic Diversity in the Democratic Republic of Congo Suggests that the HIV-1 Pandemic Originated in Central Africa

“…For instance, some of the first African HIV-1 isolates to be characterized, MAL and Z321 (obtained from a stored plasma sample obtained in 1976 in a rural area in the northern part of the DRC), have been identified as complex recombinants (8,16,55). The presence of recombinant viruses early in the AIDS epidemic suggests that HIV had been present for a while in this region of Africa.…”

Human Retroviruses and Aids - 1999

“…18) ZR.Z321: This sequence is from the 1976 Zairean isolate Z321. [Srinivasan et al(1989)]. Accession number M15896.…”

Full-length sequence and mosaic structure of a human immunodeficiency virus type 1 isolate from Thailand

“…The HIV-1 epidemic in Thailand overturned these predictions definitively. Although the first HIV-1 cases described in Thailand were of genotype B, common in Europe and in the Western Hemisphere, the envelope genotype E viruses, once introduced into northern Thailand and spread through heterosexual contact, virtually swept the country in a few years (49,52,55,56). Genotype B viruses remain the minority strain in Thailand and are even losing ground to envelope genotype E where they initially predominated (28,54), in injecting drug users.…”