Molecular epidemiology of Japanese encephalitis virus circulating in South Korea, 1983-2005

Seok-Min Yun,Myung Guk Han,Young Eui Jeong,Jung Eun Cho,Jungsang Ryou,Young-Ran Ju,Woo-Young Choi,Su Yeon Kim

doi:10.1186/1743-422x-7-127

Abstract

We sequenced the envelope (E) gene of 17 strains of the Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) isolated in South Korea in 1983-2005 and compared the sequences with those from previously reported strains. Our results show the remarkable genetic stability of the E gene sequence in Korean JEV strains. Five pairs of E gene sequences from 10 Korean strains were identical, despite geographical differences and a maximum five-year time span. Sequence comparisons with other Asian strains revealed that the Korean strains are closely related to those from China, Japan, and Vietnam. Genotype 3 strains were predominant in Korea before 1993, when genotype 1 strain K93A07 was first isolated. The two genotypes were detected simultaneously in 1994 but since then, only genotype 1 has been isolated in South Korea. Thus, the genotype change occurred according to the year of isolation rather than the geographical origin.

Highlights

We sequenced the envelope (E) gene of 17 strains of the Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) isolated in South Korea in 1983-2005 and compared the sequences with those from previously reported strains
Many studies have revealed the phylogenetic relationships among the JEV strains
Previous studies have only dealt with a few Korean strains isolated before 1999, and more recent strains must be analyzed to fully characterize the molecular epidemiology of JEV in South Korea

Summary

Introduction

We sequenced the envelope (E) gene of 17 strains of the Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) isolated in South Korea in 1983-2005 and compared the sequences with those from previously reported strains. 3-4 JEV genotypes have been proposed based on short sequences (198 nt, 240 nt, or 280 nt) in the C/prM region [4,5,6], but The molecular epidemiology of JEV strains has been well studied in Asian countries, including China, Japan, India, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam [6,11,12,13,14].

Results

Conclusion