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Diversité et évolution des lentivirus de primates Volume 7, issue 2, Mars 2003

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Authors
Laboratoire Retrovirus, UR36, IRD, 911, avenue Agropolis, BP 64501, 34394 Montpellier Cedex 5. E‐mail : martine.peetersmpl.ird.fr

African nonhuman primates are the natural hosts of simian immunodeficiency viruses (SIV) but these viruses do not appear to cause disease. To date, more than 30 different species have been found infected. Based on comparisons of their sequences and the functional similarity of their genes, SIV are classified into 6 major approximately equidistant lineages: SIVsm\HIV2 lineage, SIVcpz\HIV1 lineage, SIVagm lineage SIVsyk lineage, SIVlhoest lineage together with SIVmnd1 and SIVsun and, SIVcol lineage. In addition, SIVs from other African primates have been fully characterized but present discordant phylogenies depending of the region of their genome studied providing evidence that recombination between divergent SIV has occurred. Phylogenetic analyses indicate that some SIV lineages have co‐evolved with their hosts but there are also multiple examples of cross‐species transmissions between different simian species, and also from simians to humans. The human AIDS virus, HIV1 and HIV2, are of zoonotic origin with their closest simian relatives, SIVcpz in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and SIVsm in sooty mangabeys (Cercocebus atys), respectively. In central Africa, humans are still exposed to a plethora of primate lentiviruses through hunting and handling of primate bushmeat. Therefore, the characterization of all SIV infected non‐human primate species are important to assess the potential risk for additional lentiviruses into the human population.