Speaker
Description
In an HIV-1 molecular epidemiology study in Spain, based on maximum likelihood (ML) phylogenetic analyses of protease-reverse transcriptase (PR-RT) sequences, we identified a cluster of 46 individuals from 8 regions not grouping with references of known subtypes or CRFs, which through analyses with Recombination Identification Program (RIP), bootscanning, and trees of partial fragments, was classified as CRF02_AG/A3 recombinant, being designated 02A3_5. Through BLAST similarity searches and subsequent ML phylogenetic analyses, we identified 24 additional sequences from databases from 5 countries (16 of them from Morocco) clustering with 02A3_5 viruses. In this cluster we identified two main subclusters, one from Basque Country (n=8) (subcluster 1), and another (n=13) (subcluster 2), predominantly from Navarre (n=5) and La Rioja (n =6), with 5 from La Rioja forming a subsubcluster. All individuals in the subclusters with a known transmission route were sexually-infected males.
Near full-length genomes of 2 nonepidemiologically-linked viruses and partial genome sequences of 3 others (5.7-7 kb) were obtained, determining through bootscan analyses and ML trees of partial fragments that they were CRF02_AG/A3 recombinant, with 11 breakpoints, coincident between the analyzed viruses. These results allow to define a new CRF.
Bayesian coalescent analyses estimated an origin in Morocco around 1983 for the newly identified CRF; in Vizcaya province around 2019 for subcluster 1; in Navarre around 2008 for subcluster 2; and in La Rioja around 2021 for the Riojan subsubcluster of subcluster 2.
In conclusion, a new HIV-1 CRF derived from CRF02_AG and A3 subsubtype, of Moroccan origin, has been identified, which has been introduced at least twice in Spain, one in Navarre and another in Basque Country. It is the second CRF of North African origin identified by us in Spain, which may reflect migratory flows from the Maghreb to Spain.
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