Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Brief Communication
  • Published:

Human immunodeficiency virus

Phylogeny and the origin of HIV-1

Nature volume 410, pages 1047–1048 (2001)Cite this article

Abstract

The origin of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) is controversial. We show here that viruses obtained from the Democratic Republic of Congo in Africa have a quantitatively different phylogenetic tree structure from those sampled in other parts of the world. This indicates that the structure of HIV-1 phylogenies is the result of epidemiological processes acting within human populations alone, and is not due to multiple cross-species transmission initiated by oral polio vaccination.

Access through your institution
Buy or subscribe

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Access through your institution

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Maximum-likelihood phylogenies were estimated for three V3–V5 data sets: HIV-1 sequences from the Democratic Republic of Congo (423 base pairs), global isolates (426 base pairs), and Congo and global isolates combined (396 base pairs).

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Hooper, E. The River: A Journey to the Source of HIV and AIDS (Penguin, London, 1999).

    Google Scholar 

  2. Korber, B. et al. Science 288, 1789–1796 (2000).

    ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Hahn, B., Shaw, G., de Cock, K. M. & Sharp, P. M. Science 287, 607–614 (2000).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Vidal, N. et al. J. Virol. 74, 10498–10507 (2000).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Los Alamos National Laboratory HIV Sequence Database, http://hiv-web.lanl.gov.

  6. Pybus, O. G., Rambaut, A. & Harvey, P. H. Genetics 155, 1429–1437 (2000).

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  7. Robertson, D. L. et al. Science 288, 55–57 (2000).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PS, UK

    Andrew Rambaut, David L. Robertson, Oliver G. Pybus & Edward C. Holmes

  2. Laboratoire Retrovirus, IRD, BP 5045, Montpellier, 34032 Cedex1, France

    Martine Peeters

Authors
  1. Andrew Rambaut
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

  2. David L. Robertson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

  3. Oliver G. Pybus
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

  4. Martine Peeters
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

  5. Edward C. Holmes
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Edward C. Holmes.

Supplementary information

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Rambaut, A., Robertson, D., Pybus, O. et al. Phylogeny and the origin of HIV-1. Nature 410, 1047–1048 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/35074179

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/35074179

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing