NONINVASIVE DETECTION OF NEW SIV LINEAGES IN CAPTIVE SOOTY MANGABEYS

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This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. We developed a noninvasive method for SIVsm virion RNA detection in feces of captive sooty mangabeys (SMs) (Cercocebus atys). Employing this method to investigate the natural history of SIVsm in endangered SMs in the wild is useful for understanding diversity and evolution of SIVsm and HIV-2. Fecal samples collected from 61 wild SMs and 14 wild west African chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) were studied. Samples were collected in rural Sierra Leone in 1993. One SM sample tested positive by reverse transcriptase-PCR. No viral sequences were detected in 14 feces of chimpanzees. Phylogenetic analysis of env sequence obtained from SM #13 showed that it clustered within the SIVsm group that includes SIVsmH4, B670 and PBj, identifying a previously unknown SIV connection from West Africa and American based colonies of SM. The virus, designated as SIVsmSL93g, indicates that the SIVB670-SIVsmH4-SIVPbj cluster originated in Northern Sierra Leone. The discovery of this strain in wild SM also indicates that noninvasive methods can be used for SIV detection from monkey feces collected in the field.