JVI Figure table search 04
Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Ling, B.
Right arrow Articles by Marx, P. A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Ling, B.
Right arrow Articles by Marx, P. A.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Journal of Virology, February 2003, p. 2214-2226, Vol. 77, No. 3
0022-538X/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JVI.77.3.2214-2226.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Noninvasive Detection of New Simian Immunodeficiency Virus Lineages in Captive Sooty Mangabeys: Ability To Amplify Virion RNA from Fecal Samples Correlates with Viral Load in Plasma

Binhua Ling,1,2 Mario L. Santiago,3 Sreelatha Meleth,3 Bobby Gormus,2 Harold M. McClure,4 Cristian Apetrei,1,2 Beatrice H. Hahn,3 and Preston A. Marx1,2*

Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center, New York, New York 10016,1 Tulane National Primate Research Center, Tulane University Health Sciences Center, Covington, Louisiana 70433,2 Departments of Medicine and Microbiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama 35294,3 Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 303294

Received 1 August 2002/ Accepted 22 October 2002

The sooty mangabey (SM) (Cercocebus atys) is the natural host of a simian immunodeficiency virus, termed SIVsm, which gave rise to human immunodeficiency virus type 2. Data on the geographic distribution, prevalence, and genetic diversity of SIVsm in the wild remains limited. To address this issue, noninvasive strategies based on screening SM fecal and urine specimens for SIVsm-specific antibodies and virion RNA (vRNA) were developed, and the results were correlated with viral loads in plasma. Twenty-three SIVsm-infected and 27 uninfected SMs were evaluated. Time-matched urine, fecal and plasma samples were collected over a 2-month period from 16 captive naturally infected SMs. The remaining 7 infected and 27 uninfected SMs were sampled once. Each specimen was subjected to enhanced chemiluminescence-Western blot analysis and nested reverse transcriptase (RT) PCR. The results showed that urine was highly sensitive (96%) and specific (100%) for detection of SIVsm antibodies, while fecal detection was much less sensitive (16%). Conversely, vRNA detection was more sensitive in feces (50%) than in urine (2%) samples. Fecal-vRNA detection correlated with viral loads in plasma (P < 0.002). SMs with detectable fecal vRNA had a mean viral load in plasma of 458,006 copies/ml, while those with undetectable fecal vRNA had a mean viral load in plasma of 29,428 copies/ml. Moreover, for every log increase in the viral load in plasma, the odds of detecting virus in fecal samples increased 87-fold. Genetic diversity of SIVsm in the SM colony was characterized by sequencing partial gag (846 bp) and gp43 (439 bp) fragments. Surprisingly, four new SIVsm lineages were identified, two of which were initially detected by fecal RT-PCR. This study documents the suitability of noninvasive methods for the detection and molecular characterization of new SIV variants. These assays will be useful for studying the phylogeny and epidemiology of SIVsm infections in the wild, and they hold promise as tools for investigating natural SIV infections in endangered nonhuman primates.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Tulane National Primate Research Center, 18703 Three Rivers Rd., Covington, LA 70433. Phone: (985) 871-6255. Fax: (985) 871-6248. E-mail: pamarx{at}tpc.tulane.edu.

Journal of Virology, February 2003, p. 2214-2226, Vol. 77, No. 3
0022-538X/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JVI.77.3.2214-2226.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:



Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
J. Bacteriol. Mol. Cell. Biol. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev.
Clin. Vaccine Immunol. ALL ASM JOURNALS

Copyright © 2003 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.