STLV-1 GENETIC DIVERSITY IN CAYO SANTIAGO RHESUS MACAQUES

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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. Naturally occurring simian T cell lymphotropic (STLV-I) virus strains have been identified and isolated from Old World, nonhuman primates and include: African green monkeys, rhesus macaques, sooty mangabey monkeys, and baboons. A unique free ranging rhesus macaque colony at Cayo Santiago, Puerto Rico, established in 1938 and a part of the Carribean Primate Research Center was shown serologically, by Dr. Sariol Curbelo, to have a high percentage of the animals that were infected with STLV-1. We began molecular studies to evaluate the diversity of STLVs within this population of animals. Blood samples from serologically positive animals were sent to TNPRC for isolation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and their cellular DNA. These DNAs were amplified by PCR for both STLV-I envelope (env) and LTR, nucleotide sequencing conducted, and phylogenetic comparisons with known HTLV-I and STLV-I isolates made. The comparisons of the first few STLV-I virus isolates for env sequences, clustered together and near to other Macaca mulatta isolates, but distinct from other Old World primate families. We are continuing and extending these studies with further characterization of nucleotide sequences of each isolate and making phylogenetic comparisons.