Geographical distribution of the human polyomavirus JC virus types A and B and isolation of a new type from Ghana

Abstract

The JC polyomavirus (JCV) is ubiquitous in humans, infecting children asymptomatically, then persisting in renal tissue. Since JCV DNA can be readily isolated from urine, it should be a useful tool with which to study the evolution of DNA viruses in humans. We showed that JCV DNA from the urine of Japanese, Taiwanese, Dutch and German patients can be classified into A and B types, based upon restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs). This work was extended in the present study. We established multiple JCV DNA clones from the UK, Spain, Italy, Sweden, South Korea, People's Republic of China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Mongolia, India, Sri Lanka, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Zambia, South Africa and Ghana. Using typespecific RFLPs, most clones except the four clones from Ghana were classified as either type A or B. We constructed a molecular phylogenetic tree for the Ghanaian clones and several representative type A and B clones. According to the phylogenetic tree, the Ghanaian clones constituted a major new group, tentatively named type C. From the findings presented here and elsewhere, the following conclusions were drawn: (i) type A is prevalent only in Europe; (ii) type B is found mainly in Asia and Africa; and (iii) type C is localized to part of Africa. Our findings should help to clarify how JCV evolved in humans.

Molecular Epidemiology of Human Polyomavirus JC in the Biaka Pygmies and Bantu of Central Africa

“…This was later identified as a new subtype of JCV when similar strains were sequenced from the urine of Africans from Ghana (Guo et al 1996). Type 6 strains have also been sequenced from the brains of AIDS patients with PML from the Ivory Coast (Stoner et al 1998b) as well as the urine of an immunocompetent individual from Sierra Leone (Chima, unpublished data).…”

“…We can hypothesize that the two African genotypes of JCV (Types 3 and 6) may have coevolved, independently of each other, in their respective African hosts. All genotype studies on JCV in Africans so far have shown that both Type 3 and 6 strains can be found in West and Central Africa (Guo et al 1996, Sugimoto et al 1997, Stoner et al 1998b, while Type 3 is the only genotype so far described from East Africa (Agostini et al 1995).…”

Dispersal of southeastern Asians based on a global phylogenetic analysis of JC polyomavirus isolates of genotype SC

“…Phylogenetic analysis of SC isolates worldwide based on complete viral DNA sequences We sequenced 15 complete JCV (SC) DNA clones, including seven established previously (Guo et al, 1996) and eight established in this study (the origins of these clones are shown in Table 1 and Figure 1). An NJ phylogenetic tree was constructed from these sequences and 50 complete SC sequences reported previously (Table 1).…”

“…Using molecular cloning (see below), eight JCPyV isolates (UR-8, Han-1, -3 and -4, RH-2 and -5, and MU-4 and -7) were recovered in the current study, and seven isolates (C1, CW-7 and -11, ID-2, ML-2 and -4, and ZA-3) were obtained in a previous study (Guo et al, 1996), using urine samples collected from indigenous volunteers or patients aged 40 years or older at the sites indicated in Table 1 and Figure 1. The origins of the JCPyV isolates used in this study whose complete JCPyV sequences have been reported previously are also shown in Table 1 and Figure 1.…”

“…We determined the complete sequences of 15 clones containing full-length JCPyV genomes obtained in this and a previous study (Guo et al, 1996). The SC sequences thus obtained, those recently reported but left unclassified into subgroups (Cui et al, 2004;Venter et al, 2004), and those subclassified previously (Saruwatari et al, 2002b;Takasaka et al, 2004) were all subjected to a phylogenetic analysis.…”