title: Full genome analysis and characterization of influenza C virus identified in Eastern India.
abstract: In tropical countries of Asia, like India, approximately 0.5 million children of <5 years of age die annually due to acute respiratory illness (ARI). Of common respiratory pathogens, influenza viruses (A & B) are associated with annual worldwide epidemics; while the information on influenza C virus is inadequate. During January 2011 through December 2012, 2737 nasal and/or throat swabs were collected from patients reporting at outpatient department of hospitals in eastern India with ARI. Nucleotide sequencing was carried out using gene specific primers followed by pair-wise sequence alignments, multiple alignments, construction of phylogenetic tree and analysis of deduced amino acid sequences. Study reveals that, out of 2737 samples, 1616 (59.04%) were positive for one or more respiratory viruses; of which 23.72% were positive for influenza A and B viruses. From influenza A & B negative samples, influenza C virus was screened and detected with a frequency of 0.18%. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the HE, matrix, NS, PB1 and PB2 gene of the studied strain (C/Eastern-India/1202/2011) possessed a close relatedness to C/Yamagata/26/81 like strains. The P3 gene shows proximity with C/Mississipi/80 like strains whereas NP gene revealed similarity with C/Miyagi/1/93 like strains. The outcome of the whole genome analysis of the strain C/Eastern-India/1202/2011 provided useful information regarding genetic diversity of influenza C strains in India.
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases, Beliaghata, Kolkata, India.
authors.forename: Tapasi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Roy Mukherjee
authors.forename: Anupam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mukherjee
authors.forename: Satarupa
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mullick
authors.forename: Mamta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chawla-Sarkar
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D016679:Genome, Viral; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D007251:Influenza, Human / Q000821:virology*; D009982:Gammainfluenzavirus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D017423:Sequence Analysis, RNA
chemical_list: D012367:RNA, Viral