Enhanced Transmissibility and Decreased Virulence of HIV-1 CRF07_BC May Explain Its Rapid Expansion in China
Zetao Cheng, Huanchang Yan, Qingmei Li, Sherimay D. Ablan, Alex B. Kleinpeter, Eric O. Freed, Hao Wu, Emmanuel Enoch Dzakah, Jianhui Zhao, Zhigang Han, Haiying Wang, Shixing Tang
Abstract
HIV-1 CRF07_BC is one of the most common circulating recombinant forms (CRFs) in China. The question is why and how CRF07_BC expanded so rapidly remains unknown. To address the question, we explored the transmission capability of CRF07_BC by constructing HIV-1 transmission networks to quantitatively evaluate the growth rate of transmission clusters of different HIV-1 genotypes. We further characterized the role of two unique mutations in CRF07_BC, PTAPPE insertion (insPTAP) and/or PIDKELY deletion (Δ7) in the p6Gag in virus replication. Our results help define the molecular mechanism regarding the association between the unique mutations and the slower disease progression of CRF07_BC as well as the quick spread of CRF07_BC in China.