[Molecular epidemiological study on rubella virus].
OBJECTIVE
To understand the hereditary and variant characteristics of rubella virus(RV), especially the strains isolated from China, investigating the epidemical trend and variation principle of RV.


METHODS
The envelope glycoprotein E1 gene was amplified from rubella virus by RT-PCR. After sequencing, the gene sequence was handled by the software DNASTAR and the phylogenetic tree was drawn to analyze the molecular epidemiological characteristics of RV.


RESULTS
The sequence of RV strain JR23 was sequenced, the phylogenetic tree was drawn taking 30 strains isolated at different times and locations in GenBank, including three strains from China as reference. The regions that encode the peptides which react with the HI antibody and the neutralization antibody were compared to show if there was any amino acid mutation in the sequence. (1) In general, the nucleotide and amino acid sequences of RV were highly conserved. The four strains isolated from China had relatively large variations. Strain 379 and strain BRD constituted genotype II, which is different from the other 29 strains. Further study is needed to understand their heritable resources and biological characteristics. (2) Strain JR23 showed little difference from the strains that were epidemic during 1960s in UK, USA and Japan, so maybe it is the derivative strain of that in epidemic 1960s. But the accurate epidemic time is not known.


CONCLUSIONS
There are differences among areas and time in epidemics of rubella. The mobility and the region difference seem to be the key factors that affect the epidemic characteristics of RV.
Xue
Yong-lei
YL
Department of Virology, School of Public Health, Shandong University, Jinan 250012, China.
Wang
Zhi-yu
ZY
Wang
Xiao-fan
XF
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D019943:Amino Acid Substitution; D001483:Base Sequence; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D005838:Genotype; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology; D009154:Mutation; D010802:Phylogeny; D012409:Rubella / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D012412:Rubella virus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D020539:Sequence Analysis, Protein; D017385:Sequence Homology; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins / Q000235:genetics*
D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins; C061826:E1 envelope protein, Rubella virus