Sequencing and Molecular Characterization of the Genome of Echovirus 30 Isolated from a Korean Aseptic Meningitis Patient

ABSTRACT

Echovirus 30 is one of the distinct serotypes of enteroviruses and commonly isolated agent causing sporadic to large outbreaks with aseptic meningitis in many regions over the world. Recently, an outbreak of echovirus 30 associated with aseptic meningitis occurred in Korea in 2008. In order to analyze echovirus 30 in Korea, the virus was isolated from cerebrospinal fluid samples of a male patient with aseptic meningitis and its genome sequence was determined. The sequence of Korean echovirus 30 isolate was compared with those of reference strains (Bastianni, FDJS03-84, zhejiang-17-03, 14916net87). At the nucleotide level, the P1 region (84.8~89.0%) had the highest identity value; at the amino acid level, the P3 region (97.0~98.5%) showed the highest value. When the cleavage sites were compared, most sites were identical except those between VP1 and 2A; the Bastianni stain had TT/GA, whereas the other four strains contained NT/GA. The China strains (FDJS03-84 and zhejiang-17-03) were grouped together and the other strains were distinct from each branch in the phylogenetic tree based on the complete genome sequences.