Analysis of hantaviruses origin and molecular evolution in China / 第二军医大学学报

ABSTRACT

Objective: To investigate the first appearance and geographic distribution of hantaviruses in China. Methods: Some sequences of M segment of hantaviruses isolated in China were retrieved from GenBank. Some recently sequenced viruses which have not been registered in GenBank were obtained from authors who reported them. Program MEGA 3.1 was employed for the phylogenetic analysis of the above virus sequences. Nucleotide divergence rates were estimated by comparing the closely related sister sequences isolated in the same geographical region at no less than a 5-year interval. Based on these calculated divergence rates, together with their isolating time and region, we explored the first appearance and geographic distribution of hantaviruses in China. Results and conclusion: The distribution of hantaviruses was in cluster, with Guizhou Province having the most subgenotypes, which supports the previous hypothesis that hantaviruses first appeared in Guizhou Province of China. A novel subgenotype virus was found in Anhui Province, indicating that it might be easier for the virus to have mutation in Anhui Province. We also found that Gou3 strain might be the earliest one to separate from a common ancestral strain; it is speculated that hantaviruses migrated in China about 315 years ago.