Similarities between Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 and Hepatitis C Virus Genetic and Phenotypic Protease Quasispecies Diversity.

ABSTRACT:

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Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) are two highly variable RNA viruses that cause chronic infections in humans. Although HCV likely preceded the AIDS epidemic by some decades, the global spread of both viruses is a relatively recent event. Nevertheless, HCV global diversity is higher than that of HIV-1. To identify differences in mutant diversity, we compared the HIV-1 protease and HCV NS3 protease quasispecies. Three protease gene quasispecies samples per virus, isolated from a total of six infected patients, were genetically and phenotypically analyzed at high resolution (HIV-1, 308 individual clones; HCV, 299 clones). Single-nucleotide variant frequency did not differ between quasispecies from the two viruses (HIV-1, 2.4 × 10(-3) ±

SUBMITTER: Martinez MA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4577916 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature