Molecular genome tracking of East, Central and South African genotype of Chikungunya virus in South-east Asia between 2006 and 2009

摘要

Objective:To understand the epidemiology of the East, Central and South African(ECSA) genotype of Chikungunya virus(CHIKV)in terms of emerging and re-emerging infections, this study has been aimed at investigating the evolutionary parameters, genomic signatures and molecular tracking of theCHIKV ECSA genotype in South-east Asia and coastal areas of the Indian Ocean between 2006 and 2009 by using phylogenetic analysis and the Bayesian Markov Chain Monte Carlo (BMCMC) evolutionary estimation.Methods: Nearly complete genome sequences of53 CHIKV isolates from all genotypes were subjected to phylogenetic analysis and evolutionary parameter estimation. The amino acids of67of ECSA genotype during2006 to2009 were compared for finding molecular signature tracking. The ECSA genotype signatures were visualized to find the possible transmission root was projected onto a geographic map.Results:Phylogenetic analysis showed theECSA genotype was divided into2 groups. The first group comprises viruses from India and Southeast Asian countries. The second group consists of strains typically circulating in Sri Lanka in2008. The evolutionary parameters of these groups depicted the time of the most recent common ancestor at approximately 7.5years ago. The genomic signatures revealed the positions of amino acid variation in each group.Conclusions:The molecular evolution projected onto a geographical map showed the routes ofCHIKVtransmission from 2006 to2009. Molecular tracking will assist in understanding transmission routes, epidemiology and molecular evolution ofCHIKV.