ANÁLISIS GENÉTICO DEL VIRUS PERUANO DE LA FIEBRE AMARILLA

Objective: To determine genetic variants among peruvian Yellow Fever (YF) isolates. Materials and methods: Carboxiterminal ends from the envelope protein gene of five YF isolates obtained from patients living in Ayacucho 1978 (PER1), Junin 1995 (PER2), Cerro de Pasco (PER3), Cusco (1998) y San Martín (1999) were amplified using PCR, and they were sequenced and analyzed using DNA software. Results: The identity index using nucleotide sequences among five yellow fever isolates showed values between 94,3% and 99.3%, while amino acid sequences revealed 97,6% to 99,7% similarity. Likewise, the phylogenetic analysis showed that the values for genetic distance among these isolates were between 0,40 y 6,50 using nucleotide sequences; and using aminoacid sequencing, the range was from 0,30 to 4,29. However, important regions, such as glycosilation sites and humoral-recognising sites were preserved among the five isolates excepting some reference isolates previously reported. Conclusions: Peruvian Yellow Fever viruses are grouped in a phylogenetic cluster different to other South American YF viruses, based on the E gene analysis.