A vertically transmitted HIV-1 gag-subtype variant detected in Taiwan

We used polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to amplify a segment, about 560 base pairs (bp), of HIV-1 gag DNA prepared from peripheral blood mononuclear cells of a seropositive Taiwanese pair of mother and infant. TM-1 and TC-1 clones of PCR-amplified DNA derived from the mother and infant, respectively, showed a 94.5% homology with each other. However, the TM-1 and TC-1 sequences exhibited lower degrees of homology, i.e. only 85.1% and 85.8%, respectively, with the corresponding gag segment of a North American HIV-1 subtype (HXB2), and 86.4% and 87.0%, respectively, with that of a Zairean HIV-1 subtype (Z2Z6). The divergence of TM-1 and TC-1 sequences from those of HXB2 and Z2Z6 is particularly prominent in the first (5' proximal) 200 bp of the cloned DNA segment, involving transitions more frequently than transversions. Two additional clones TM-2 and TC-2 derived from the mother and infant were sequenced for the first 200 bp. These four clones showed a high degree of homology (94.7-97.5%) among themselves, providing an evidence for transmission of the virus from the mother to the infant. These findings show the epidemiological value of PCR, and indicate the presence of a gag subtype of HIV-1 which is distinct from both the North American and Zairean subtypes according to the phylogenetic tree constructed.