= F. Clavel
{c}
<F. Clavel> is the first-listed author of a1986 study isolating a new human <retrovirus> from two West African patients with <AIDS>. The investigators compared its biological and morphological properties, <antigens> and <DNA hybridization> behavior with previously characterized viruses. The work helped distinguish the agent subsequently called <HIV-2>; the original indexed initial-only author spelling is retained.<Isolation of a new human retrovirus from West African patients with AIDS by F. Clavel and others>[Science233,343–346; indexed byline and Abstract]{ref}<Molecular cloning and polymorphism of the human immune deficiency virus type 2 by F. Clavel and others>[Abstract, HIV-2 and previous LAV-2 designation]{ref}
An illuminating feature was the separation of resemblance from identity. Similar viral morphology did not settle the classification: envelope <glycoproteins> differed antigenically, and <DNA hybridization> supplied a different comparison of genetic relatedness. Shared <epitopes> in one component could coexist with substantial differences in another component.<Isolation of a new human retrovirus from West African patients with AIDS by F. Clavel and others>[Abstract, core/envelope comparisons and subgenomic probes]{ref}
A further1986 paper reported cloning the complete approximately9.5-kilobase <HIV-2> genome and detecting restriction-site differences between isolates. This moved the characterization from an isolated agent toward a molecular comparison of genomes, without equating every difference between isolates with a distinct viral type.<Molecular cloning and polymorphism of the human immune deficiency virus type 2 by F. Clavel and others>[Abstract, genome cloning and restriction-site polymorphism]{ref}
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