Abstract
ObjectiveTo investigate the linkage of HIV transmission from a man to a woman through unprotected sexual contact without disclosing his HIV-positive status.MethodsCombined with epidemiological information and serological tests, phylogenetic analysis was used to test the a priori hypothesis of HIV transmission from the man to the woman. Control subjects, infected with HIV through heterosexual intercourse, from the same location were also sampled. Phylogenetic analyses were performed using the consensus gag, pol and env sequences obtained from blood samples of the man, the woman and the local control subjects. The env quasispecies of the man, the woman, and two controls were also obtained using single genome amplification and sequencing (SGA/S) to explore the paraphyletic relationship by phylogenetic analysis.ResultsEpidemiological information and serological tests indicated that the man was infected with HIV-1 earlier than the woman. Phylogenetic analyses of the consensus sequences showed a monophyletic cluster for the man and woman in all three genomic regions. Furthermore, gag sequences of the man and woman shared a unique recombination pattern from subtype B and C, which was different from those of CRF07_BC or CRF08_BC observed in the local samples. These indicated that the viral sequences from the two subjects display a high level of similarity. Further, viral quasispecies from the man exhibited a paraphyletic relationship with those from the woman in the Bayesian and maximum-likelihood (ML) phylogenetic trees of the env region, which supported the transmission direction from the man to the woman.ConclusionsIn the context of epidemiological and serological evidence, the results of phylogenetic analyses support the transmission from the man to the woman.
Highlights
HIV undergoes fast genetic variation during its life cycle [1]
In the context of epidemiological and serological evidence, the results of phylogenetic analyses support the transmission from the man to the woman
During transmission of HIV, only one or a few viruses are transmitted from source to recipient, which results in a reduced genetic variation in the recipient, a phenomenon known as the genetic bottleneck effect [9, 10]
Summary
HIV undergoes fast genetic variation during its life cycle [1]. viral RNA sequences from individuals infected by a virus with the same origin are rarely identical, HIV strains from epidemiologically linked individuals are more similar than HIV strains from epidemiologically unassociated individuals [2, 3]. Phylogenetic analysis has been used to study the degree of relatedness between HIV genetic sequences, where the suspected transmission relationship or network can be supported [4,5,6,7]. The evolution of HIV in its host results in a cloud of genetic-related viral progenies, called quasispecies [8]. During transmission of HIV, only one or a few viruses are transmitted from source to recipient, which results in a reduced genetic variation in the recipient, a phenomenon known as the genetic bottleneck effect [9, 10]. The phylogenetic analysis of paraphyletic relationship was used for source identification in criminal cases [11]
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