Abstract

ACOSTA CABELLO, Alina; RUSSOMANDO, Graciela  and  ESPINOLA, Emilio. Phylogenetic and evolutive pressure analyses of nucleotide sequences of VP4 gene of human enterovirus species. Mem. Inst. Investig. Cienc. Salud [online]. 2016, vol.14, n.2, pp.17-24. ISSN 1812-9528.  https://doi.org/10.18004/Mem.iics/1812-9528/2016.014(02)17-024.

The Enterovirus genus is a viral group that affects a wide host range, including humans (species A, B, C and D), cause respiratory, gastrointestinal, and neurologic disease, among others, and are highly contagious. The symptoms range from mild to severe. The objective of this study was to perform a nucleotidic variation, phylogenetic and selective pressure analyses of the VP4 gene from the four enterovirus species that affect humans. Ninety-two nucleotide sequences (available in the GenBank database) were employed; they were edited with BioEdit software and aligned with Clustal W; the phylogenetic relationships were determined with MEGA6, and the evolutive pressures with SNAP and SLAC algorithms. It was found an intra-species nucleotide identity of at least 43,2% (species B) to 72,6% (species D). The more variable genotypes by species were EV-71 (A), Echovirus 2 (B), EV-118 (C), and EV-94 (D). The selective pressure analysis showed that VP4 gene of the four species evolves by negative pressure. This would indicate that the high mutation rate and recombination events do not have a significant role in the evolution of this gene, probably due to the internal localization of the VP4 protein.

Keywords : Human enteroviruses; nucleotide sequences; VP4 gene; phylogenetic analysis; selective pressure.

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