HIV-1 CRF07_BC is one of the predominant strains in China, however, there have been few reports about the genetic characteristics of accessory genes of this strain. In this study, 236 CRF07_BC tat exon-1 regions were obtained by nested PCR and were followed by sequencing. Our results showed some variations in crucial functional domains, especially in the basic region. There were two conserved amino acid variations in the 1 ∼ 56 aa fragment of tat gene exon-1 of 07_BC isolates, which were R7N (71.6%) and R46F (90.3%), as compared with subtype B′ strains in Thailand. The analysis of the sequences provides some valuable information for an exploration of the predominance of the HIV-1 CRF07_BC epidemic.
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