Analysis of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 Vif gene sequences among men who have sex with men in Heilongjiang province of China.

To identify the current prevalent subtypes and to study the genetic variation of HIV-1 strains in men who have sex with men (MSM) residing in Heilongjiang province, China. We analyzed the characteristics of the nucleotide sequences and the corresponding deduced protein of Vif of HIV-1 strains isolated from 17 drug-naive HIV-1-seropositive MSM. Subtypes B (7.65%) and B' (Thailand B) (11.76%), CRF07_BC (47.06%), and CRF01_AE (23.53%) were identified. Phylogenetic analysis showed that there was a close relationship between our strains and those from the same MSM population in Hebei province, which is geographically close to Heilongjiang. Most of the documented Vif functional motifs are well conserved in the majority of our analyzed sequences. Taken together, our results suggest that there might be multiple introductions of HIV in Heilongjiang MSM and frequent sexual communications with other geographically nearby MSM populations.