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. 2010 Aug 16;5(8):e12198.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0012198.

Increased genetic diversity of HIV-1 circulating in Hong Kong

Jonathan Hon-Kwan Chen  1 , Ka-Hing Wong, Zhiwei Chen, Kenny Chan, Ho-Yin Lam, Sabrina Wai-Chi To, Vincent Chi-Chung Cheng, Kwok-Yung Yuen, Wing-Cheong Yam
Affiliations

Increased genetic diversity of HIV-1 circulating in Hong Kong

Jonathan Hon-Kwan Chen et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

HIV-1 group M strains are characterized into 9 pure subtypes and 48 circulating recombinant forms (CRFs). Recent studies have identified the presence of new HIV-1 recombinants in Hong Kong and their complexity continues to increase. This study aims to characterize the HIV-1 genetic diversity in Hong Kong. Phylogenetic analyses were performed by using HIV-1 pol sequences including protease and partial reverse transcriptase isolated from 1045 local patients in Hong Kong from 2003 to 2008. For the pol sequences with unassigned genotype, the evidence of recombination was determined by using sliding-window based bootscan plots and their env C2V3 region were also sequenced. Epidemiological background of these patients was further collected. The pol phylogenetic analyses highlighted the extent of HIV-1 genetic diversity in Hong Kong. Subtype B (450/1045; 43.1%) and CRF01_AE (469/1045; 44.9%) variants were clearly predominant. Other genotypes (126/1045; 12.1%) including 3 defined subtypes, 10 CRFs, 1 unassigned subtype and 33 recombinants with 11 different mosaic patterns were observed. Recombinants of subtype B and CRF01_AE were mainly found among local Chinese MSM throughout 2004 to 2008, while the CRF02_AG and subtype G recombinants were circulating among non-Chinese Asian population in Hong Kong through heterosexual transmission starting from 2008. Our study demonstrated the complex recombination of HIV-1 in Hong Kong and the need in developing surveillance system for tracking the distribution of new HIV-1 genetic variants.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Phylogenetic relationships of 34 unassigned pol gene sequences (1a) and 31 unassigned env gene C2V3 region sequences (1b).
Genotype unassigned sequences were highlighted in blue and all reference sequences were in black. Bootstrap values >70 were shown at the nodes of the trees.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Bootscanning plots of the unassigned pol gene variants.
The bootstrap values are plotted for a window of 300–400bp moving in increments of 50 bps along the alignment.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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