J Gen Virol. 1996 May;77 ( Pt 5):1089-99. Unique Identifier : AIDSLINE
We isolated a divergent simian T-lymphotropic virus (STLV) (strain
PP1664) from a wild-caught African bonobo (pygmy chimpanzee, Pan
paniscus). Molecular and phylogenetic characterization of this virus
show that it reliably separates from the two well-established primate
T-lymphotropic virus types, HTLV-I/STLV-I (PTLV-I) and PTLV-II, and from
a third type isolated from an African-born Papio hamadryas and
designated by us as PTLV-L. Four of eight bonobos kept at the Antwerp
Zoo, Belgium, showed an aberrant PTLV serology. We amplified and
sequenced a 709 bp PTLV proviral tax/rex fragment from one of the
reactive bonobos. It differs by about 25 % from the homologous
nucleotide sequences of PTLV-I and PTLV-L and by about 17 % from
PTLV-II. This is comparable to the differences among the three known
types. Including the most divergent STLV-I strains sequenced to date,
for example, strain PHSu1 sequenced here, the divergence in this region
within PTLV-I is less than 11 % and within PTLV-II less than 4%.
Although very divergent, this new bonobo STLV is the closest
well-characterized simian relative of HTLV-II, raising the possibility
of very divergent new HTLV strains. Our results show that the number of
PTLV types should be considered open and that the variety of indigenous
viruses in the PTLV group is greatest in Africa. Thus, as for the other
primate retroviruses HIV and SIV, PTLV most probably has its origins in
Africa.
Africa Animal Base Sequence Chimpansee troglodytes/*VIROLOGY Genes,
pX Genome, Viral Human HTLV-I/CLASSIFICATION/*ISOLATION & PURIF
HTLV-II/CLASSIFICATION/*ISOLATION & PURIF Molecular Sequence Data
Phylogeny Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
STLV/CLASSIFICATION/GENETICS/*ISOLATION & PURIF JOURNAL ARTICLE