The Implications of Subtype Diversity of HIV-1 for Vaccine Development

Authors

Ryan Peterson, Brigham Young University
Dr. Keith A. Crandall, Brigham Young University

Keywords

subtype diversity, HIV, vaccine development, genetic diversity

College

Life Sciences

Department

Microbiology and Molecular Biology

Abstract

HIV’s ability to infect a host and grow without killing the host allows the virus to accumulate genetic diversity. Over time, HIV has diverged into a number of subtypes, differing up to 30% in their nucleic acids (2). For this reason, one of the greatest problems with vaccine development is that different subtypes express different protein variants (3). With the increase of HIV recombination and human travel, geographical patterns subtypes are becoming mixed, thus allowing the virus to explore new genetic variants and evade vaccine effectiveness (5).

Recommended Citation

Peterson, Ryan and Crandall, Dr. Keith A. (2013) "The Implications of Subtype Diversity of HIV-1 for Vaccine Development," Journal of Undergraduate Research: Vol. 2013: Iss. 1, Article 1198.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jur/vol2013/iss1/1198