Molecular characterization of full-length genome of Japanese encephalitis virus genotype V isolated from Tibet, China

• Published in: Biomedical and environmental sciences Vol. 27; no. 4; p. 231
• Main Authors: Li, Ming Hua, Fu, Shi Hong, Chen, Wei Xin, Wang, Huan Yu, Cao, Yu Xi, Liang, Guo Dong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands 01-04-2014
• Subjects: Amino Acid Sequence; Animals; Base Sequence; Culex - virology; Encephalitis Virus, Japanese - genetics; Genome, Viral; Genotype; Humans; Male; Molecular Sequence Data; Phylogeny; Sequence Analysis, DNA; Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; Tibet; Young Adult; Tibet; Japanese encephalitis virus; Molecular characterization; Genotype V
• ISSN: 0895-3988
• DOI: 10.3967/bes2014.046

To determine the molecular characterization of full-length genome of Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) genotype V.
The full-length nucleotide sequences of JEV strains isolated from different locations and sources were used in sequence and phylogenetic analysis.
The full-length genome of genotypes V JEV, XZ0934, and Muar strain were composed of 10 983 and 10 988 nucleotides respectively and shared a lower level of identity with JEV genotypes I-IV, ranging from 78.4% (G I, KV1899) to 79.7% (G III, JaGAr01), for the nucleotide sequences, and from 90.0% (G I, KV1899) to 91.8% (G III, JaGAr01) for the amino acid sequences. The open reading frame (ORF) of JEV genotype V spanned nucleotides 96 to 10 397 and encoded 3 433 amino acids. Interestingly, a comparison with JEV genotype I-IV revealed that 3 nucleotides (encoded with a serine residue) were inserted in the NS4A gene of JEV genotype V, and the insertion of nucleotides was also found in downstream of the ORF stop codon in 3'-untranslated region. Moreover, numerous amino acid mutations were observed in 3 functional domains of the E gene of JEV genotype V.
The molecular characterization of JEV genotype V is significantly different from that of the known genotypes I-IV. The mutations located in the coding region and the non-coding region may be molecular markers of JEV genotype V and warrant further studies to determine their effects on biology and immunogenicity of genotype V strains.