Molecular evolution of West Nile virus in a northern temperate region: Connecticut, USA 1999-2008.

ABSTRACT: West Nile virus (WNV) has become firmly established in northeastern US, reemerging every summer since its introduction into North America in 1999. To determine whether WNV overwinters locally or is reseeded annually, we examined the patterns of viral lineage persistence and replacement in Connecticut over 10 consecutive transmission seasons by phylogenetic analysis. In addition, we compared the full protein coding sequence among WNV isolates to search for evidence of convergent and adaptive evolution. Viruses sampled from Connecticut segregated into a number of well-supported subclades by year of isolation with few clades persisting ≥2 years. Similar viral strains were dispersed in different locations across the state and divergent strains appeared within a single location during a single

SUBMITTER: Armstrong PM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3152594 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature