Department of Molecular Medicine, University of Padova, 35122 Padova, Italy.
Viruses. 2013 Sep 24;5(9):2311-9. doi: 10.3390/v5092311.
A West Nile Virus (WNV) lineage 2 strain, named Nea Santa-Greece-2010, has been demonstrated to be responsible for the large outbreaks of neuroinvasive disease (WNND) that have been occurring in Greece since 2010, based on sequence similarities of viral isolates identified between 2010-2012. However, knowledge on the evolution of this strain is scarce because only partial WNV genome sequences are available from Greece. The aim of this study was to get the complete genome sequence of WNV from patients with infection. To this aim, plasma and urine samples collected during the 2012 Greek outbreak were retrospectively investigated. Full WNV genome sequence was obtained from a patient with WNND. The genome had 99.7% sequence identity to Nea Santa, higher than to other related WNV lineage 2 strains, and five amino acid changes apparently not relevant for viral pathogenicity or fitness. In addition, infection by WNV lineage 2 was confirmed in additional nine patients with WNND; in three of them the infection with WNV Nea Santa was demonstrated by sequencing. In conclusion, this study characterized for the first time a WNV full genome from a patient with WNND from Greece, demonstrated the persistence of the Nea Santa strain, and suggested that the virus might have locally evolved.
一株西尼罗河病毒（WNV）2 型毒株，命名为 Nea Santa-Greece-2010，被证实是 2010 年以来希腊发生的大规模神经侵袭性疾病（WNND）的罪魁祸首，这是基于 2010-2012 年间鉴定的病毒分离株序列相似性。然而，由于仅从希腊获得了部分 WNV 基因组序列，因此该毒株的进化情况知之甚少。本研究旨在从感染患者中获得 WNV 的完整基因组序列。为此，对 2012 年希腊暴发期间采集的血浆和尿液样本进行了回顾性调查。从一名患有 WNND 的患者中获得了 WNV 的全基因组序列。该基因组与 Nea Santa 的序列同一性为 99.7%，高于其他相关的 WNV 2 型谱系株，并且有五个氨基酸变化显然与病毒的致病性或适应性无关。此外，还在另外 9 名患有 WNND 的患者中证实了 2 型 WNV 的感染；其中 3 名通过测序证实了感染了 Nea Santa 株。总之，本研究首次从希腊患有 WNND 的患者中描述了 WNV 的全基因组，证实了 Nea Santa 株的持续存在，并提示该病毒可能已经在当地进化。
