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Human immunodeficiency virus

Phylogeny and the origin of HIV-1

Nature volume 410, pages 1047–1048 (2001)Cite this article

Abstract

The origin of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) is controversial. We show here that viruses obtained from the Democratic Republic of Congo in Africa have a quantitatively different phylogenetic tree structure from those sampled in other parts of the world. This indicates that the structure of HIV-1 phylogenies is the result of epidemiological processes acting within human populations alone, and is not due to multiple cross-species transmission initiated by oral polio vaccination.

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Figure 1: Maximum-likelihood phylogenies were estimated for three V3–V5 data sets: HIV-1 sequences from the Democratic Republic of Congo (423 base pairs), global isolates (426 base pairs), and Congo and global isolates combined (396 base pairs).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PS, UK

    Andrew Rambaut, David L. Robertson, Oliver G. Pybus & Edward C. Holmes

  2. Laboratoire Retrovirus, IRD, BP 5045, Montpellier, 34032 Cedex1, France

    Martine Peeters

Authors
  1. Andrew Rambaut
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  2. David L. Robertson
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  3. Oliver G. Pybus
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  4. Martine Peeters
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  5. Edward C. Holmes
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Correspondence to Edward C. Holmes.

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Rambaut, A., Robertson, D., Pybus, O. et al. Phylogeny and the origin of HIV-1. Nature 410, 1047–1048 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/35074179

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