Horizon 1 1 17 ACL : Articles dans des revues avec comité de lecture répertoriées par l'AERES Aids Research and Human Retroviruses 823-832 2009 fdi:010048169 ENG Aids Research and Human Retroviruses 0889-2229 ISI:000268937300012 8 10.1089/aid.2008.0283 https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010048169 https://www.documentation.ird.fr/intranet/publi/2009/09/010048169.pdf 25 Horizon (IRD) In this study, we characterized HIV-1 strains from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), previously described as divergent subtype A (n = 1,97CD.KMST91) or untypable (n = 7) in the V3-V5 env region. Four strains had the same structure over the entire genome, including alternating fragments of a new subsubtype, A5, within the subtype A radiation and fragments that remain unclassified. Therefore, the cluster of new viruses represents a new circulating recombinant, CRF26_A5U. Three additional strains were unique recombinants with the newly described CRF26_A5U and subtype C. Finally, the nearly full-length sequence of 97CD.KMST91 showed that this strain also consisted of alternating fragments of a divergent subtype A lineage and unclassified fragments, although different from previously reported A and U sequences. The high genetic distances among the different CRF26-A5U strains suggest their longstanding presence in the DRC. 052 UR145 République démocratique du Congo