title: Phylogenetic comparison of the DEN-2 Mexican isolate with other flaviviruses.
abstract: Recent attention has focused on the geographic variation of dengue viruses, since major epidemies may follow introduction of a new virus strain into susceptible populations. We cloned and sequenced a very interesting Mexican isolate (200787/1983) which is antigenically unique by signature analysis with respect to all other dengue-2 topotype viruses. This strain is also unique in biological behavior (neurotropism) and is of epidemiological significance in Mexico. The dengue-2 Mexican isolate sequence information was compared with that of other flaviviruses, analyzing the branching structure of the phylogenetic tree reconstructed from the E gene amino acid sequences. The E glycoprotein, is target for neutralizing antibodies and T-cell responses, and defines the tropism and virulence of flaviviruses. In the phylogram, our strain was located in the position of greatest dissimilarity within serotype-2. Also, frequency analysis of amino acids revealed a very different signature pattern from that found in viral serotype-2.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Biología Molecular, Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México.
authors.forename: B H
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Ruiz
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Sánchez
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ortega
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: López
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rosales
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Medina
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D009033:Culicidae / Q000821:virology; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D003716:Dengue Virus / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000472:pathogenicity; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005416:Flavivirus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics; D005814:Genes, Viral; D014644:Genetic Variation; D016679:Genome, Viral; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D008800:Mexico; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D012703:Serotyping; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D015678:Viral Structural Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D014774:Virulence
chemical_list: D018076:DNA, Complementary; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins; D015678:Viral Structural Proteins; C065696:glycoprotein E, Flavivirus