An Evolutionary Insight into Zika Virus Strains Isolated in the Latin American Region
1
Laboratorio de Virología Molecular, Centro de Investigaciones Nucleares, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Iguá 4225, Montevideo 11400, Uruguay
2
Laboratorio de Organización y Evolución del Genoma, Unidad de Genómica Evolutiva, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Iguá 4225, Montevideo 11400, Uruguay
3
Laboratorio de Inmunovirología, Institut Pasteur de Montevideo, Mataojo 2020, Montevideo 11400, Uruguay
*
Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Viruses 2018, 10(12), 698; https://doi.org/10.3390/v10120698
Received: 30 September 2018 / Revised: 19 November 2018 / Accepted: 20 November 2018 / Published: 8 December 2018
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Advances on Zika Virus Research)
Zika virus (ZIKV) is an emerging pathogen member of the Flaviviridae family. ZIKV has spread rapidly in the Latin American region, causing hundreds of thousands of cases of ZIKV disease, as well as microcephaly in congenital infections. Detailed studies on the pattern of evolution of ZIKV strains have been extremely important to our understanding of viral survival, fitness, and evasion of the host’s immune system. For these reasons, we performed a comprehensive phylogenetic analysis of ZIKV strains recently isolated in the Americas. The results of these studies revealed evidence of diversification of ZIKV strains circulating in the Latin American region into at least five different genetic clusters. This diversification was also reflected in the different trends in dinucleotide bias and codon usage variation. Amino acid substitutions were found in E and prM proteins of the ZIKV strains isolated in this region, revealing the presence of novel genetic variants circulating in Latin America.
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Keywords:
Zika; viral evolution; genetic variability; Bayesian analyses
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MDPI and ACS Style
Simón, D.; Fajardo, A.; Moreno, P.; Moratorio, G.; Cristina, J. An Evolutionary Insight into Zika Virus Strains Isolated in the Latin American Region. Viruses 2018, 10, 698.
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