Near Full-Length Genome Sequence of a Novel HIV-1 Recombinant Form (CRF01_AE/B) Detected Among Men Who Have Sex with Men in Jilin Province, China

Abstract

We report here a novel HIV-1 recombinant form (CRF01_AE/B) detected from a comprehensive HIV-1 molecular epidemiologic study among men who have sex with men (MSM) in Jilin province of northeastern China. The near full-length genome (NFLG) analyses showed that the novel HIV-1 recombinant isolate (JL.RF07) was composed of CRF01_AE cluster 5 (northeastern China origin) and subtype B (U.S. and European origin), with six recombinant breakpoints observed in the pol, vif, tat, rev, and env gene regions. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first detection of a novel HIV-1 recombinant form (CRF01_AE/B) in Jilin, which may indicate an active transmission network of HIV-1 infection among MSM in the region. Further studies of the molecular epidemiology of the HIV-1 epidemic among MSM in northeastern China are necessary to gain a fuller understanding of the transmission network and potential public health impact of HIV-1 among MSM in this region.