Three Ebola virus variants identified in Guinea

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Sequencing the genome of Ebola virus strains circulating in Guinea has allowed scientists at the Institut Pasteur in Dakar and in Paris, the CNRS and the University of Sydney to retrace the spread of the virus and monitor its evolution in the country where the outbreak started. This research reveals the co-circulation in Guinea, particularly in the urban regions of the capital and neighboring towns, of three distinct variants of the virus whose mutations are described in an article published in Nature. Characterization of the genetic variations of the virus is crucial to ensure the continued efficacy of diagnostic tools and for the development of effective treatments and vaccines. The Ebola epidemic has been ongoing in West Africa for over a year, with 27,341 reported cases, of which 11,184 have been fatal (1). The source of the epidemic has been traced to a forested area in South-East Guinea, from where it rapidly spread to the capital, Conakry, and to neighboring countries. In March 2014, the Institut Pasteur of Dakar set up a mobile laboratory at Donka hospital (Conakry), to provide diagnostic services throughout Guinea. The involvement of volunteers from the Institut Pasteur and its network, in Conakry and other regions of Guinea such as Macenta, was constant during the entire epidemic.

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[h=1]Distinct lineages of Ebola virus in Guinea during the 2014 West African epidemic[/h]

• Etienne Simon-Loriere,
• Ousmane Faye,
• Oumar Faye,
• Lamine Koivogui,
• Nfaly Magassouba,
• Sakoba Keita,
• Jean-Michel Thiberge,
• Laure Diancourt,
• Christiane Bouchier,
• Matthias Vandenbogaert,
• Val?rie Caro,
• Gamou Fall,
• Jan P. Buchmann,
• Christan B. Matranga,
• Pardis C. Sabeti,
• Jean-Claude Manuguerra,
• Edward C. Holmes
• & Amadou A. Sall

• Affiliations
• Contributions
• Corresponding authors

Nature (2015) doi:10.1038/nature14612 Received 15 April 2015 Accepted 05 June 2015 Published online 24 June 2015 [h=2]Article tools[/h]

• [h=3]PDF[/h]

An epidemic of Ebola virus disease of unprecedented scale has been ongoing for more than a year in West Africa. As of 29 April 2015, there have been 26,277 reported total cases (of which 14,895 have been laboratory confirmed) resulting in 10,899 deaths[SUP]1[/SUP]. The source of the outbreak was traced to the prefecture of Gu?ck?dou in the forested region of southeastern Guinea[SUP]2, 3[/SUP]. The virus later spread to the capital, Conakry, and to the neighbouring countries of Sierra Leone, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal and Mali[SUP]1[/SUP]. In March 2014, when the first cases were detected in Conakry, the Institut Pasteur of Dakar, Senegal, deployed a mobile laboratory in Donka hospital to provide diagnostic services to the greater Conakry urban area and other regions of Guinea. Through this process we sampled 85 Ebola viruses (EBOV) from patients infected from July to November 2014, and report their full genome sequences here. Phylogenetic analysis reveals the sustained transmission of three distinct viral lineages co-circulating in Guinea, including the urban setting of Conakry and its surroundings. One lineage is unique to Guinea and closely related to the earliest sampled viruses of the epidemic. A second lineage contains viruses probably reintroduced from neighbouring Sierra Leone on multiple occasions, while a third lineage later spread from Guinea to Mali. Each lineage is defined by multiple mutations, including non-synonymous changes in the virion protein 35 (VP35), glycoprotein (GP) and RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (L) proteins. The viral GP is characterized by a glycosylation site modification and mutations in the mucin-like domain that could modify the outer shape of the virion. These data illustrate the ongoing ability of EBOV to develop lineage-specific and potentially phenotypically important variation.


http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature14612.html