Comparative Phylogenetic Analysis of E6 and E7 Proteins of Different 42 Strains of HPV.

ABSTRACT

Simultaneous phylogenetic analysis of E6 and E7 proteins of 42 different HPV strains was carried out in detail. Both E6 and E7 proteins of different HPV strains consistently showed evolutionary divergence into two major distinct lineages. While E6 protein was further differentiated into 7 smaller lineages, E7 differentiated into 8 lineages. Multiple Sequence Alignment (MSA) results revealed their amino acid profiles demonstrated conserved lineage-specific substitutions independently. Dendrogram topologies of E6 and E7 proteins among different HPV strains were very similar which showed that in most of the strains of HPV, both the proteins were evolved in a similar manner. Also, similar phylogenetic profiles among different HPV types having fully / highly conserved residues were observed, suggesting possible functional similarities among different strains. Completion of evolutionary analysis of the E6 and E7 proteins of 42 HPV strains revealed co-dependent evolution of genes with some variations.