Evaluation of global clustering patterns and strain variation over an extended ORF26 gene locus from Kaposi's sarcoma herpesvirus.

Background: Small 233-bp or 330-bp DNA fragments of the ORF26 gene of human Kaposi's sarcoma herpesvirus (KSHV) have been used extensively to identify KSHV by PCR in clinical samples; to associate KSHV with novel diseases and to correlate KSHV strain differences with pathogenicity.

Objectives: We evaluated the nature, extent and source of nucleotide sequence variability among a large and diverse set of known KSHV-positive DNA samples.

Study Design: Direct DNA PCR sequencing was carried out on 136 distinct Kaposi's sarcoma and primary effusion lymphoma-related samples from different geographic locations.

Ugandan Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus phylogeny: evidence for cross-ethnic transmission of viral subtypes.

Objective: The aim of this study was to test the relationship between Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) phylogeny and host ethnicity at the within-country scale.

Methods: KSHV genomic DNA samples were isolated from 31 patients across eleven Ugandan ethnic groups. Amino acid sequences of the ORF-K1 gene were used to construct a neighbor-joining phylogenetic tree.

Obesity and gender differences in the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus in Uganda.

Objective: We assessed the severity of type 2 diabetes in urban and rural communities of Uganda and characterized this disease according to sex, obesity, and hypertension.

Methods: A total of 440 subjects was tested for high blood and urine glucose levels with the respective glucometers and sample strips. Body mass index and hypertension were determined by measuring height, weight, and blood pressure.

Genotypic analysis at multiple loci across Kaposi's sarcoma herpesvirus (KSHV) DNA molecules: clustering patterns, novel variants and chimerism.

Background: The genomes of human Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) display several levels of DNA sequence heterogeneity and subgrouping that show distinctive clustering patterns in related human populations. The four major subtype patterns for the hypervariable ORF-K1 protein correlate closely with the principal diasporas resulting from the migration of modern humans out of East Africa and suggest that KSHV is an ancient human virus that is transmitted primarily in a familial fashion with consequent very low recombination rates. However, chimeric genomes have also been detected, especially with regard to the presence of P versus M alleles of the ORF-K15 gene.

A single point mutation in HIV-1 V3 loop alters the immunogenic properties of rgp120.

The results of the study presented in this report show that clones of env derived from genetically divergent HIV-1 field isolates fall into two major subsets based on the predicted secondary structure of the V3 region in gp120. One subset exemplified by the clones A-UG06c, B-RT3.12 and C-UG045 is predicted to assume a beta-turn conformation in the V3 loop and comprises the GPGX residues.