Origins for Two Groups of Human AIDS Viruses Discovered in Gorillas

First Posted: Mar 04, 2015 07:15 AM EST
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Scientists have discovered the origins for two of the four known groups of human AIDS viruses. It turns out that their origins can be found in western lowland gorillas.

The two viruses in this case are HIV-1 groups O and P. HIV-1 itself, the virus that causes AIDS, has jumped species to infect humans on at least four separate occasions, generating four HIV-1 lineages: groups M, N, O and P. Previous research has shown that Group M and N originated in geographically distinct chimpanzee communities in southern Cameroon. The origins of O and P, though, have long remained a mystery.

In order to find out the origins of these two groups, the researchers screened fecal samples from western lowland gorillas and mountain gorillas in Cameroon, Gabon, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda for evidence of the SIVgor infection. In the end, they identified four field sites in southern Cameroon where western lowland gorillas harbor SIVgor.

"Viral sequencing revealed a high degree of genetic diversity among the different gorilla samples," said Beatrice Hahn, one of the researchers, in a news release. "Two of the gorilla virus lineages were particularly closely related to HIV-1 groups O and P. This told us that these two groups originated in western lowland gorillas.

The four cross-species transmissions have actually had very different outcomes in humans. Group M gave rise to the AIDS pandemic, infecting more than 40 million people worldwide. Groups N and P, however, have only been found in a few individuals from Cameroon. Group O, although no as widespread as group M, has infected about 100,000 people in west central Africa.

"Understanding emerging disease origins is critical to gauge future human infection risks," said Martine Peeters, one of the researchers. "From this study and others that our team has conducted in the past it has become clear that both chimpanzees and gorillas harbor viruses that are capable of crossing the species barrier to humans and have the potential of causing major disease outbreaks."

The findings are published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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