Host immune selection pressure influences the development of mutations that allow for HIV escape. Mutation patterns induced in HIV by the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) are HLA-allele specific. As ethnic groups have distinct and characteristic HLA allele frequencies, we can expect divergent viral evolution within ethnicities. Here, we have sequenced and analyzed the HIV pol gene from 1248 subtype B infected, treatment-na?ve individuals in Canada. Phylogenetic analysis showed no separation between pol sequences from five self-identified ethnic groups, yet fixation index (F(ST)) values showed significant divergence between ethnicities. A total of 17 amino acid sites showed an ethnic-specific fixation pattern (0.015
Notes
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