Morphologic and Molecular Characterization of a Strain of Zika Virus Imported into Guangdong, China.

Shufen Li,Jun Dai,Xiaobo Li,Yongxia Shi,Ling Chen,Shuai Yuan,Kui Zheng,Jicheng Huang,Lark L Coffey

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0169256

Abstract

The recent outbreaks of Zika virus (ZIKV) disease have caused worldwide concerns. Guangdong province is one of the commercial centers in China and communicates frequently with the epidemic areas. To date, 65.2% of the ZIKV infection cases in China were imported via port of entry in Guangdong. The continuous surveillance of imported cases is crucial for the prevention and control of potential ZIKV infection outbreak in China. In this study, a strain of ZIKV was isolated from the serum of a 6-year-old child returning from Venezuela. The morphology of the ZIKV was analyzed in vivo and in vitro by electron microscopy, and clusters of virus particles were found in the loose cytoplasmic membrane structures. The genomic sequence of the isolated ZIKV was determined, and the alignment and phylogenetic analysis identified one unique amino acid substitution occurring in the non-structural protein 4B (NS4B), and the isolated virus belonged to the Asian lineage.

Highlights

Zika virus (ZIKV) is an emerging arbovirus, which belongs to the Flavivirus genus
We identified and isolated an imported ZIKV strain from the serum of an infected child returning from Venezuela, and the morphologic and molecular characterization was conducted
The results suggested that ZIKV possesses polytropism towards tissues

Summary

Introduction

Zika virus (ZIKV) is an emerging arbovirus, which belongs to the Flavivirus genus. ZIKV is an enveloped virus with a positive single-stranded RNA genome, which contains one open reading frame encoding a polyprotein that is cleaved into three structural proteins (including capsid protein, premembrane/membrane protein and envelope protein) and seven nonstructural proteins (NS1, NS2A, NS2B, NS3, NS4A, NS4B and NS5) [1]. ZIKV is mainly transmitted by Aedes species mosquitoes [2,3]. Infective ZIKV was isolated from urine and saliva of acute phase patients, suggesting that ZIKV might be transmitted through urine and saliva [9]. ZIKV was first isolated from a sentinel rhesus monkey in Uganda in 1947 [10], with periodic human infections in Africa and South Asia [2,11,12].

Methods

Results

Conclusion