Sequence analysis of clinical Japanese encephalitis viruses isolated from Fujian,2005-2008 / 中国人兽共患病学报

ABSTRACT

Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) is an important encephalitis virus in Asia, currently both Genotype I (G1) and Genotype III (G3) strains are circulating in China, while JEV isolates from Fujian belonged to G3. In this report, five clinical JEV strains were isolated from specimens of suspected JE patients in Fujian, 2005-2008. Phylogenetic analysis of partial C/PrM and full-length E genes revealed these five strains also belonged to G3. Meanwhile, homogeneity analysis indicated that 2005-2008 isolates were closely related to strains from several years ago, rather than to those strains from 1950s. Minor variations were identified at several amino acid residues of the envelope protein, however, none of these mutations was associated with pathogenicity of JEV. These data contribute to continuous tracking of the geographic evolution of JEV over a long period.