Of the approximately ten genetic families (subtypes), HIV-1 subtype-C (HIV-1C) causes nearly half of global HIV infections and is responsible for nearly all the infections in India. What causes underlie the uneven distribution of HIV families and regional domination of certain subtypes? Research leads emerging from our laboratory over the past several years show that HIV-1C has several unique molecular and biological properties that underlie the prevalence of this HIV family. To our knowledge, we are the only research group studying the HIV-1C family. Research in our laboratory is focused on HIV-1 transcriptional silence or HIV latency.
