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Evolutionary analysis of the Chikungunya virus epidemic in Mexico reveals intra-host mutational hotspots in the E1 protein

Muñoz-Medina, José Esteban ; Garcia-Knight, Miguel Antonio ; Sanchez-Flores, Alejandro ; Monroy-Muñoz, Irma Eloísa ; Grande, Ricardo ; Esbjörnsson, Joakim LU orcid ; Santacruz-Tinoco, Clara Esperanza and González-Bonilla, César Raúl (2018) In PLoS ONE 13(12).
Abstract

The epidemic potential of Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) was recently made evident by its introduction and rapid expansion in the Caribbean and the Americas. We sought to gain a detailed understanding of the dynamics of the epidemic in Mexico, the country with the highest number of confirmed CHIKV cases in the Americas, and to characterise viral evolution at the population and intra-host level. Analysis of the spatiotemporal distribution of 2,739 diagnosed cases in Mexico from December 2014 to December 2015 showed a rapid nationwide expansion of the epidemic with focalisation in the South West of the country. We sequenced the envelope glyco-protein 1 gene (E1) from 25 patients using the Illumina MiSeq platform and report synonymous and... (More)

The epidemic potential of Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) was recently made evident by its introduction and rapid expansion in the Caribbean and the Americas. We sought to gain a detailed understanding of the dynamics of the epidemic in Mexico, the country with the highest number of confirmed CHIKV cases in the Americas, and to characterise viral evolution at the population and intra-host level. Analysis of the spatiotemporal distribution of 2,739 diagnosed cases in Mexico from December 2014 to December 2015 showed a rapid nationwide expansion of the epidemic with focalisation in the South West of the country. We sequenced the envelope glyco-protein 1 gene (E1) from 25 patients using the Illumina MiSeq platform and report synonymous and non-synonymous consensus mutations. Bayesian phylogenetic analysis using 249 Asian lineage E1 sequences gave updated estimates of nucleotide substitution rates for E1 and time to most recent common ancestor of major lineages. The analysis indicates phylogenetically-related emergent Latin American clusters in South Western Mexico, Nicaragua and Honduras and transmission of American strains in the Pacific islands. Detailed analysis showed that intrahost changes in E1 mainly occurred in two variable regions (E1:189–220 and E1:349–358) in domains II and III, respectively, in residues involved in inter and intra-envelope spike interactions. At the population level, this study sheds light on the introduction and evolutionary dynamics of CHIKV in the Americas. At the intra-host level, this study identifies mutational hotspots of the E1 protein with implications for understanding the relationship between the CHIKV quasispecies, viral fitness and pathogenesis.

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Contribution to journal
publication status
published
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in
PLoS ONE
volume
13
issue
12
article number
e0209292
publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
external identifiers
  • scopus:85058549220
  • pmid:30550577
ISSN
1932-6203
DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0209292
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
a4ef18c7-d319-4967-9d3b-dec7131b269e
date added to LUP
2019-01-04 10:59:28
date last changed
2024-03-02 16:23:46
@article{a4ef18c7-d319-4967-9d3b-dec7131b269e,
  abstract     = {{<p>The epidemic potential of Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) was recently made evident by its introduction and rapid expansion in the Caribbean and the Americas. We sought to gain a detailed understanding of the dynamics of the epidemic in Mexico, the country with the highest number of confirmed CHIKV cases in the Americas, and to characterise viral evolution at the population and intra-host level. Analysis of the spatiotemporal distribution of 2,739 diagnosed cases in Mexico from December 2014 to December 2015 showed a rapid nationwide expansion of the epidemic with focalisation in the South West of the country. We sequenced the envelope glyco-protein 1 gene (E1) from 25 patients using the Illumina MiSeq platform and report synonymous and non-synonymous consensus mutations. Bayesian phylogenetic analysis using 249 Asian lineage E1 sequences gave updated estimates of nucleotide substitution rates for E1 and time to most recent common ancestor of major lineages. The analysis indicates phylogenetically-related emergent Latin American clusters in South Western Mexico, Nicaragua and Honduras and transmission of American strains in the Pacific islands. Detailed analysis showed that intrahost changes in E1 mainly occurred in two variable regions (E1:189–220 and E1:349–358) in domains II and III, respectively, in residues involved in inter and intra-envelope spike interactions. At the population level, this study sheds light on the introduction and evolutionary dynamics of CHIKV in the Americas. At the intra-host level, this study identifies mutational hotspots of the E1 protein with implications for understanding the relationship between the CHIKV quasispecies, viral fitness and pathogenesis.</p>}},
  author       = {{Muñoz-Medina, José Esteban and Garcia-Knight, Miguel Antonio and Sanchez-Flores, Alejandro and Monroy-Muñoz, Irma Eloísa and Grande, Ricardo and Esbjörnsson, Joakim and Santacruz-Tinoco, Clara Esperanza and González-Bonilla, César Raúl}},
  issn         = {{1932-6203}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{12}},
  publisher    = {{Public Library of Science (PLoS)}},
  series       = {{PLoS ONE}},
  title        = {{Evolutionary analysis of the Chikungunya virus epidemic in Mexico reveals intra-host mutational hotspots in the E1 protein}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0209292}},
  doi          = {{10.1371/journal.pone.0209292}},
  volume       = {{13}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}