I think that this is very useful and important. I have a couple of discretionary revisions (though both are pedantic). First, while "chimpanzees" are our closest living relatives, this includes both Pan troglodytes and Pan paniscus. Second, while HIV-1 shares an origin with a Chimpanzee SIV, HIV-2 does not.

Also, I believe that you need to acknowledge Yerkes for the samples.

"Thank you for acknowledging the Yerkes Center (Grant No. P51OD011132) in any publication resulting from work with these biological materials and providing a copy of any such publication to the Yerkes Center. Please send emails to kay.summerville@emory.edu." (From the Coriell Assurance form)

Otherwise I think that this is an extremely helpful and meaningful data set. Level of interest An article of importance in its field Quality of written English Acceptable Statistical review No, the manuscript does not need to be seen by a statistician. Declaration of competing interests I declare that I have no competing interests