Identification of a New HIV-1 BC Intersubtype Circulating Recombinant Form (CRF108_BC) in Spain

• Published in: Viruses Vol. 13; no. 1; p. 93
• Main Authors: Cañada, Javier E, Delgado, Elena, Gil, Horacio, Sánchez, Mónica, Benito, Sonia, García-Bodas, Elena, Gómez-González, Carmen, Canut-Blasco, Andrés, Portu-Zapirain, Joseba, Sáez de Adana, Ester, De la Peña, Mireia, Ibarra, Sofía, Cilla, Gustavo, Iribarren, José Antonio, Martínez-Sapiña, Ana, Thomson, Michael M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI 12-01-2021; MDPI AG
• Subjects: circulating recombinant form; Genetic Variation; Genome, Viral; Genotype; HIV Infections - epidemiology; HIV Infections - virology; HIV-1; HIV-1 - classification; HIV-1 - genetics; HIV-1 genetic diversity; HIV-1 molecular epidemiology; HIV-1 phylogeny; Humans; Molecular Epidemiology; Phylogeny; Phylogeography; Public Health Surveillance; Recombination, Genetic; Sequence Analysis, DNA; Spain - epidemiology; Viremia; Spain; HIV-1; HIV-1 molecular epidemiology; HIV-1 genetic diversity; HIV-1 phylogeny; circulating recombinant form
• ISSN: 1999-4915; 1999-4915
• DOI: 10.3390/v13010093

The extraordinary genetic variability of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) group M has led to the identification of 10 subtypes, 102 circulating recombinant forms (CRFs) and numerous unique recombinant forms. Among CRFs, 11 derived from subtypes B and C have been identified in China, Brazil, and Italy. Here we identify a new HIV-1 CRF_BC in Northern Spain. Originally, a phylogenetic cluster of 15 viruses of subtype C in protease-reverse transcriptase was identified in an HIV-1 molecular surveillance study in Spain, most of them from individuals from the Basque Country and heterosexually transmitted. Analyses of near full-length genome sequences from six viruses from three cities revealed that they were BC recombinant with coincident mosaic structures different from known CRFs. This allowed the definition of a new HIV-1 CRF designated CRF108_BC, whose genome is predominantly of subtype C, with four short subtype B fragments. Phylogenetic analyses with database sequences supported a Brazilian ancestry of the parental subtype C strain. Coalescent Bayesian analyses estimated the most recent common ancestor of CRF108_BC in the city of Vitoria, Basque Country, around 2000. CRF108_BC is the first CRF_BC identified in Spain and the second in Europe, after CRF60_BC, both phylogenetically related to Brazilian subtype C strains.