In silico comparison of Iranian HIV -1 envelop glycoprotein with five nearby countries

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HIV-1 envelope (env) glycoprotein mediates an important role in entry of the virus into the susceptible target cells. As env glycoprotein of HIV-1 is highly variable in the different geographical regions, in the present study, different properties of this protein in Iran are compared with five nearby countries. The sequences of HIV-1 env glycoproteins of Iran, Afghanistan, Russia, Turkey, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia databases were collected from databases.  Amino acid composition and physical and chemical properties of the proteins from these countries were studied using Protparam and COPid tools. Receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis and Support Vector Machine (SVM) were used to evaluate association between the properties of HIV-1 env glycoprotein of Iran with five nearby countries. The results verify that amino acid composition and four physical and chemical properties (molecular weight, isoelectric point, Aliphatic Index, and grand average of hydropathicity) of HIV-1 env protein in Iran and Russia were not significantly different. In conclusion, the results indicate that in silico techniques provide valuable information for comparing HIV-1 envelop glycoprotein in different geographical locations.