title: Mutant spectrum of dengue type 1 virus in the plasma of patients from the 2006 epidemic in South China.
abstract: The aim of the present study was to explore the mutant spectrum of dengue type 1 virus (DENV-1) within individuals during the 2006 dengue epidemic in South China. A 513-bp fragment including most of domain III of the envelope (E) gene was amplified directly from clinical samples, then cloned and sequenced. A total of 89 clones from six patients (range 11-17 clones per patient) were sequenced. Genetic diversity was calculated using MEGA 4 package. The total number of nucleotide mutations was 113 (3.7%) within the sequenced 513-bp E gene, with a range of 15 (3%) to 24 (4.7%) within individual viral populations, harboring more non-synonymous than synonymous mutations. The extent of sequence diversity varied among patients, with the mean diversity ranging from 0.19% to 0.32%, and the mean pairwise p-distance ranging from 0.34% to 0.65%. No genome-defective virus was detected in any clone in this study. Purifying selection may be the main driving force for the intrahost evolution: the mean dN/dS ratio was 0.532. Our findings contribute to the understanding of the genetic variation of DENV-1 in South China.
authors.affiliation: College of Basic Medical Sciences, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China. Electronic address: tuz1980@126.com.
authors.forename: Zeng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Tu
authors.forename: Yong-lin
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: He
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Zhi-bang
authors.initials: ZB
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Chun
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Wei-jun
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D003715:Dengue / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology*; D003716:Dengue Virus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006801:Humans; D009154:Mutation; D012703:Serotyping; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins
keywords: Dengue virus; Envelope gene; Epidemiology; Intrahost diversity