PgmNr P370: Genetic Interrelationships between Zika Virus, Dengue Virus, Chikungunya Virus and Yellow Fever Virus Strains.

Authors:
Olaitan Awe 1 ; Angela Makolo 1 ; Segun Fatumo 1,2


Institutes
1) University of Ibadan, Ibadan, NG; 2) Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge, CB10 1SA, UK.


Abstract:

Zika virus is an arbovirus in the family Flaviviridae, genus Flavivirus and this virus generally causes a mild febrile illness with maculo-papular rash and paralysis-causing Guillain-Barré syndrome in infected humans. Its main vectors are Aedes mosquitoes, the same type of mosquito that spreads dengue, chikungunya and yellow fever virus. In 2015, Zika virus disease outbreak was reported in South America, with an association of Zika virus infection with microcephaly-babies born with abnormally small heads. This link is based on the surge in microcephaly cases following this outbreak. Nevertheless, little is known about the genomics of Zika virus or its interrelationships with other arboviruses, and treatment is currently based on dealing with the symptoms, but an extensive phylogeny is a step towards a better understanding of the natural history of Zika virus. In this study, we did comparative genomics of certain arboviruses, so as to investigate their genetic interrelationships by obtaining complete genome sequences of Zika, Dengue, Chikungunya and Yellow Fever virus species from Genbank and revealed Zika's phylogenetic position. Results from our analysis revealed that the degree of relatedness in recent Zika virus strains is higher than past Zika virus strains isolated before, and this informs possible genetic changes. We also have a view of the outbreak that started last year in Brazil. We see genetic changes that separate the Brazilian strain of Zika virus from the past strains isolated before. Though, we do not know if there are genetic variations or mutations that have happened within the course of the Zika outbreak event, or mutations within individuals, unless confirmed experimentally. If the virus incurs a mutation, this could also facilitate transmission by another vector. These are important points to put in perspective, developing tools, drugs or having understanding of Zika virus pathogenesis, because these tools are mostly built on the genome sequence of the virus. These Zika strains carry derived mutations which put them in a group with Chikungunya and Yellow Fever Virus, though Chikungunya and Yellow Fever Viruses are more closely related to each other than to Zika. Though, it is hard to speculate on the implications of our results without a few more samples, insights from this study will ultimately help to build the genomic infrastructure needed to study and combat Zika virus. Results from this study could facilitate effective vaccine production pipelines in future. We expect this study to provide better understanding of the genomic knowledge of Zika virus.