Based in Brazil, Fernanda Ferreira is a science writer who covers a range of STEM (and occasionally non-STEM) topics, from textile conservation to vaccine stockpiles.
To understand the origin of HIV-1’s second most successful group (O), researchers collected thousands of fecal (the more scientific term for poop) samples from gorillas and analyzed them for the presence of gorilla SIV (SIVgor). By looking at the genetic similarities shared by SIVgor and HIV-1 they could determine that HIV-1 group O emerged following the transfer of SIVgor from gorillas to humans.
