Phylogenetic relationships among members of the genus Phlebovirus (Bunyaviridae) based on partial M segment sequence analyses.

Abstract

Viruses in the Phlebovirus genus of the family Bunyaviridae cause clinical syndromes ranging from a short, self-limiting febrile illness to fatal haemorrhagic fever. The genus currently consists of 68 antigenically distinct virus serotypes, most of which have not been genetically characterized. RT-PCR with four 'cocktail' primers was performed to amplify a region of the M segment of the genome of 24 phleboviruses included in the sandfly fever Naples, sandfly fever Sicilian and Punta Toro serocomplexes. Partial M segment sequences were successfully obtained and phylogenetic analysis was performed. The three resultant genotypic lineages were consistent with serological data. The sequence divergences were 27.6 % (nucleotide) and 25.7 % (amino acid) within the Sicilian serocomplex, 33.7 % (nucleotide) and 34.4 % (amino acid) within the Naples serocomplex and 35.6 % (nucleotide) and 37.5 % (amino acid) within the Punta Toro serocomplex. Overall, the diversities among viruses of Sicilian, Naples and Punta Toro serocomplexes were 48.2 % and 57.6 % at the nucleotide and amino acid levels, respectively. This high genetic divergence may explain the difficulties in designing a consensus primer pair for the amplification of all the phleboviruses using RT-PCR. It also suggests that infection with one genotype may not completely immunize against infection with all other genotypes in a given serocomplex. These findings have implications for potential vaccine development and may help explain clinical reports of multiple episodes of sandfly fever in the same individual.

• Authors: Dong-Ying Liu, Robert B Tesh, Amelia P A Travassos da Rosa, Clarence J Peters, Zhanqiu Yang, Hilda Guzman, Shu-Yuan Xiao
• Journal: The Journal of general virology (J Gen Virol) Vol. 84 Issue Pt 2 Pg. 465-473 (Feb 2003) ISSN: 0022-1317 [Print] England
• PMID: 12560581 (Publication Type: Journal Article)

Chemical References

• DNA Primers
• Glycoproteins
• RNA, Viral
• Viral Nonstructural Proteins
• Viral Proteins

Topics

• Amino Acid Sequence
• Animals
• Base Sequence
• Cricetinae
• DNA Primers
• Glycoproteins (chemistry, genetics)
• Humans
• Molecular Sequence Data
• Phlebotomus Fever (virology)
• Phlebovirus (classification, genetics)
• Phylogeny
• RNA, Viral (analysis, genetics)
• Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
• Sequence Alignment
• Viral Nonstructural Proteins (chemistry, genetics)
• Viral Proteins (chemistry, genetics)