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Background Transmitted drug resistance (TDR) is an important public health issue, because TDRassociated mutation may affect the outcome of antiretroviral treatment potentially or directly. Men who have sex with men (MSM) constitute a major risk group for HIV transmission. However, current reports are scarce on HIV TDR-associated mutations and their co-variation among MSM. Methods Blood samples from 262 newly diagnosed HIV-positive, antiretroviral therapy (ART)-naïve MSM, were collected from January 2011 and December 2013 in Beijing. The polymerase viral genes were sequenced to explore TDR-associated mutations and mutation co-variation. Results A total of 223 samples were sequenced and analyzed. Among them, HIV-1 CRF01_AE are accounted for 60.5%, followed by CRF07_BC (27.8%), subtype B (9.9%), and others. Fiftyseven samples had at least one TDR-associated mutation, mainly including L10I/V (6.3%), A71L/T/V (6.3%), V179D/E (5.4%), and V106I (2.7%), with different distributions of TDRassociated mutations by different HIV-1 subtypes and by each year. Moreover, eight significant co-variation pairs were found between TDR-associated mutations (V179D/E) and seven overlapping polymorphisms in subtype CRF01_AE. Conclusions To date, this work consists the most comprehensive genetic characterization of HIV-1 TDRassociated mutations prevalent among MSM. It provides important information for understanding TDR and viral evolution among Chinese MSM, a population currently at particularly high risk of HIV transmission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: miRNAs are a class of non-coding RNA molecules that play crucial roles in the regulation of virushost interactions. The ever-increasing data of known viral miRNAs and human protein interaction network (PIN) has made it possible to study the targeting characteristics of viral miRNAs in the context of these networks. Results: We performed topological analysis to explore the targeting propensities of herpesvirus miRNAs from the view of human PIN and found that (1) herpesvirus miRNAs significantly target more hubs, moreover, compared with non-hubs (non-bottlenecks), hubs (bottlenecks) are targeted by much more virus miRNAs and virus types. (2) There are significant differences in the degree and betweenness centrality between common and specific targets, specifically we observed a significant positive correlation between virus types targeting these nodes and the proportion of hubs, and (3) K-core and ER analysis determined that common targets are closer to the global PIN center. Compared with random conditions, the giant connected component (GCC) and the density of the subnetwork formed by common targets have significantly higher values, indicating the module characteristic of these targets. Conclusions: Herpesvirus miRNAs preferentially target hubs and bottlenecks. There are significant differences between common and specific targets. Moreover, common targets are more intensely connected and occupy the central part of the network. These results will help unravel the complex mechanism of herpesvirus-host interactions and may provide insight into the development of novel anti-herpesvirus drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]