Detection of diverse variants of human immunodeficiency virus-1 groups M, N, and O and simian immunodeficiency viruses from chimpanzees by using generic pol and env primer pairs

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection of humans is the result of independent cross-species transmissions of simian immunodeficiency viruses (SIVcpz) from naturally infected chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes troglodytes) to man. To develop a polymerase chain reaction-based assay capable of detecting members of all major phylogenetic SIVcpz and HIV-1 lineages (groups M, N, and O), primer pairs in conserved pol and env regions were designed. Both primer sets amplified 99%) in amplifying viral sequences from plasma taken from patients infected with HIV-1 group M (n=226) and O (n=17) viruses.