title: Phylogenetic analysis of influenza B virus in Taiwan, 1997 to 2001.
abstract: Seventeen strains of influenza B virus were isolated and identified from 1997 to 2001. Throat swabs were collected in children who presented in medical centers in both central and northern parts of Taiwan. To clarify the molecular characteristics of these isolates, both partial hemagglutinin (HA) gene and nonstructural (NS) gene nucleotide sequences were cloned and subjected to nucleotide sequence analysis. The phylogenetic analysis of the HA gene revealed that 16 out of 17 strains were similar to B/Yamagata/16/88-like virus, but grouped together to form an independent cluster. Only one strain, B/Taiwan/21706/97, was similar to the B/Victoria/2/87-like lineage. In addition, all isolates, except for B/Taiwan/21706/97, were similar to B/Beijing/184/93 and B/Yamanashi/166/98, which were chosen as the recommended vaccine strains in 1999 and 2001. In contrast, the NS gene of these isolates was evolved from B/Guangdong/8/93. Based on the accumulation of antigenic drift in our isolates, we conclude that influenza B virus is still prevalent in Taiwan and the accumulation of nucleotide mutations indicated that our isolates form a new cluster that evolved from the YA88 lineage.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: Chi-Ho
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.forename: You
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.forename: Happy-K
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Shieh
authors.forename: Cheng-Hsien
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.forename: Chia-Yuan
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Shu-Chih
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Wu-Tse
authors.initials: WT
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000940:Antigenic Variation; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D019267:Hemagglutinin Glycoproteins, Influenza Virus / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D009981:Influenza B virus / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D007251:Influenza, Human / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology; D017361:Viral Nonstructural Proteins / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D019267:Hemagglutinin Glycoproteins, Influenza Virus; C085820:INS1 protein, influenza virus; D017361:Viral Nonstructural Proteins