Molecular identification and characterization of two proposed new enterovirus serotypes, EV74 and EV75

Abstract

Sequencing of the gene that encodes the capsid protein VP1 has been used as a surrogate for antigenic typing in order to distinguish enterovirus serotypes; three new serotypes were identified recently by this method. In this study, 14 enterovirus isolates from six countries were characterized as members of two new types within the species Human enterovirus B, based on sequencing of the complete capsid-encoding (P1) region. Isolates within each of these two types differed significantly from one another and from all other known enterovirus serotypes on the basis of sequences that encode either VP1 alone or the entire P1 region. Members of each type were ⩾77·2 % identical to one another (89·5 % amino acid identity) in VP1, but members of the two different types differed from one another and from other enteroviruses by ⩾31 % in nucleotide sequence (25 % amino acid sequence difference), indicating that the two groups represent separate new candidate enterovirus types. The complete P1 sequences differed from those of all other enterovirus serotypes by ⩾31 % (26 % amino acid sequence difference), but were highly conserved within a serotype (<8 % amino acid sequence difference). Phylogenetic analyses demonstrated that isolates of the same serotype were monophyletic in both VP1 and the capsid as a whole, as shown previously for other enterovirus serotypes. This paper proposes that these 14 isolates should be classified as members of two new human enterovirus types, enteroviruses 74 and 75 (EV74 and EV75).