Identification of CRF89_BF, a new member of an HIV-1 circulating BF intersubtype recombinant form family widely spread in South America

Circulating recombinant forms (CRFs) represent a substantial proportion of infections in the HIV-1 pandemic. Among 103 CRFs described in the literature, 16 are BF intersubtype recombinants, most of South American origin, of which CRF12_BF is the most widely spread. A BF recombinant cluster identified in Bolivia was suggested to represent a new CRF_BF. Here, we find that this cluster belongs to a larger cluster incorporating 38 viruses collected in 7 countries from 3 continents, 21 of them in Spain, most from Bolivian or Peruvian individuals, and 12 in South America (Bolivia, Argentina, and Peru). It comprises three major subclusters, two associated with Bolivian individuals and one associated with Peruvian individuals. Near full-length genome sequence analyses of five viruses collected in Spain, Bolivia, and Peru revealed coincident BF mosaic structures, with 13 breakpoints, 5 and 6 of which coincided with CRF12_BF and CRF17_BF, respectively, and grouping in a clade closely related to these CRFs and more distantly to CRF38_BF and CRF44_BF, all circulating in South America. These results allow us to identify a new HIV-1 CRF, designated CRF89_BF. Through phylodynamic analyses, CRF89_BF emergence was estimated in Bolivia around 1984. CRF89_BF is the fifth CRF member of the HIV-1 recombinant family related to CRF12_BF