A dual superinfection and recombination within HIV-1 subtype B 12 years after primoinfection

Abstract

To analyze superinfection in an HIV-1-infected patient showing high-risk practices, viral quasispecies were analyzed in pol and env genes in several plasma samples. Phylogenetic analysis in the reverse transcriptase fragment in pol gene identified a single virus in the first 3 samples analyzed, but 12 years after primoinfection, 3 different viral strains were detected in the patient quasispecies. This result suggests a superinfection with 2 HIV-1 strains, one of which showed the T215Y + M184V resistance mutations. The analysis in the env gene confirmed the existence of 3 different strains in the viral population, one of them a recombinant. This study illustrates that events of superinfection and recombination contribute to the viral genetic variability observed in HIV-1-infected individuals.