Partial nucleotide sequence and deduced amino acid sequence of the structural proteins of dengue virus type 2, New Guinea C and PUO-218 strains.

The nucleotide sequence and the deduced amino acid sequence for the genes encoding the structural proteins of two strains of dengue virus type 2 (DEN-2) were determined from cDNA clones. The genes for C, prM(M) and E proteins were sequenced for the prototype DEN-2 virus, the New Guinea C strain. Also sequenced were the prM(M) and E genes of PUO-218. This strain of DEN-2 was isolated during 1980 in Bangkok and had received a limited number of laboratory passages. Comparisons of the newly determined sequences with those published for the Jamaica 1409 and Puerto Rico PR-159 (S1 vaccine candidate) strains revealed a close relationship between New Guinea C virus and both the Jamaica and PUO-218 viruses (greater than 96% similarity in nucleotides of the E gene), whereas S1 virus was the most divergent.