Molecular Analysis of Enterovirus C Species Using the 5’ Untranslated Region and VP1 Region

Enteroviruses (EVs) of EV-C species evolve quickly, mainly due to high mutation and recombination rates. The 5’ untranslated region (UTR) is fundamentally important for efficient viral replication and for virulence; the VP1 region correlates well with antigenic typing by neutralization, and can be used for virus identification and evolutionary studies. In order to investigate the evolutionary diversity and molecular epidemiology in EV-C species, the 5’ UTR and VP1 regions were analyzed in 16 clinical isolates from a single public-health laboratory (serving New South Wales, Australia), representing seven types (serotypes/genotypes) in EV-C. Sequences were compared with the 5’ UTR and VP1 regions of 183 strains available in GenBank, representing the same seven types. The genetic relationships were analyzed using MEGA. The sequence analyses of the 5’ UTR and VP1 regions of 199 EV-C strains demonstrated that: a) Comparing the two regions provides strong evidence of epidemiological linkage of EV-C strains in some types. b) The intratypic genetic variation within each gene reveals that they evolve distinctly, largely due to their different functions. c) Mutation and possible recombination in the two regions play significant roles in the evolutionary diversity of EV-C.