Primer design for the most infectious type of HIV-1 in Indonesia / Zakiya Gania ... [et al.]

Indonesia is one of the countries with a high growth rate of HIV cases globally. AIDS-related deaths in Indonesia have not fallen and increased significantly since 2010. HIV infection rates remain high and rising in key affected populations. The incidence of HIV is growing steadily in Indonesia, with over 670,000 HIV-infected individuals recorded in 2015. Based on the Indonesian Health Profile data, HIV- positive adult reports remain high. The Indonesian Pediatric Society (IPS) reported that 1,188 Indonesian children were HIV-positive in 2022. Data were collected over the period January-June 2022. HIV is a massive virus that weakens immunity. Therefore, a fast and accurate method is needed to detect HIV so that it can be detected early. One fast and accurate method of detecting is using the PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) method, where a primer is needed. Therefore, in this innovation, we are designing a pair of primers targeting the HIV-1 CRF01_AE subtype, which is selected after analyzing the most common subtypes in Indonesia using sequence references from the LANL gene bank (Los Alamos National Library) to determine subtypes. The primer design has met the requirements, having 40-60% GC content, a melting temperature (Tm) of 45-65C, and no mono and dinucleotide repetitive sequences. From the results of this primer design, a marketable HIV detection PCR kit can be made, especially for the HIV-1 CRF01_AE subtype.