Tissue-specific metabolic enzyme levels covary with whole-animal metabolic rates and life-history loci via epistatic effects.

Metabolic rates, including standard (SMR) and maximum (MMR) metabolic rate have often been linked with life-history strategies. Variation in context- and tissue-level metabolism underlying SMR and MMR may thus provide a physiological basis for life-history variation. This raises a hypothesis that tissue-specific metabolism covaries with whole-animal metabolic rates and is genetically linked to life history.

Clinical evaluation of a low cost, in-house developed real-time RT-PCR human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) quantitation assay for HIV-1 infected patients.

Objectives: HIV-1 viral quantitation is essential for treatment monitoring. An in-house assay would decrease financial barriers to access.

Materials And Methods: A real-time competitive RT-PCR in house assay (Sing-IH) was developed in Singapore.

Phylodynamic profile of HIV-1 subtype B, CRF01_AE and the recently emerging CRF51_01B among men who have sex with men (MSM) in Singapore.

HIV-1 subtype B and CRF01_AE are the predominant infecting subtypes among men who have sex with men (MSM) in Singapore. The genetic history, population dynamics and pattern of transmission networks of these genotypes remain largely unknown. We delineated the phylodynamic profiles of HIV-1 subtype B, CRF01_AE and the recently characterized CRF51_01B strains circulating among the MSM population in Singapore.

High prevalence of CXCR4 usage among treatment-naive CRF01_AE and CRF51_01B-infected HIV-1 subjects in Singapore.

Background: Recent studies suggest HIV-1 inter-subtype differences in co-receptor usage. We examined the correlation between HIV-1 subtype and co-receptor usage among treatment-naïve HIV-1 subjects in Singapore. Additionally, we investigated whether the subtype co-receptor association was influenced by stage of infection.

Clinical evaluation of an in-house human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) genotyping assay for the detection of drug resistance mutations in HIV-1 infected patients in Singapore.

Introduction: Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) genotyping resistance test (GRT) is essential for monitoring HIV-1 drug resistance mutations (DRMs). High cost and HIV-1 genetic variability are challenges to assay availability in Singapore. An in-house Sanger sequencing-based GRT method was developed at the Communicable Disease Centre (CDC), Singapore's HIV national treatment reference centre for both subtype B and non-subtype B HIV-1.

Identification of new CRF51_01B in Singapore using full genome analysis of three HIV type 1 isolates.

A recent HIV-1 molecular epidemiology survey in Singapore identified a novel CRF01_AE/B recombinant form, which accounted for 13 (11.9%) of 109 patient samples. Peripheral blood mononuclear cell DNA from three of these 13 patients was used to generate near full-length sequences to characterize the novel CRF01_AE/B recombinant form.

Molecular epidemiology of HIV type 1 in Singapore and identification of novel CRF01_AE/B recombinant forms.

To investigate HIV-1 molecular epidemiology in Singapore, we sequenced portions of three regions of the HIV-1 genome (protease HXB2: 2163 to 2620, gp120 HXB2: 6904 to 7628, and gp41 HXB2: 7817 to 8264) from 212 plasma samples collected between February 2008 and August 2009. From these samples, 109 (51.4%) generated interpretable data in all regions.