Genomic sequence of a Japanese encephalitis virus isolate from southern China.

We determined the complete nucleotide sequence of a Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) isolate (designated SH17M-2007) from a pool of Culex tritaeniorhynchus collected in southern China in 2007. The genome consisted of 10,965 nucleotides and included a single open reading frame (10,296 nucleotides) that encodes a 3,432-amino-acid polyprotein. The SH17M-2007 had 97.3 to 98.4% nucleotide identity with two Korean strains (KV1899, K94P05) and two Japanese strains (Ishikawa, JEV/sw/Mie/40/2004), but only 88.8% identity with the Chinese vaccine strain SA14-14-2. Five unique amino acid substitutions including one in the envelope (E) protein (Glu(E-306)-Lys) were found in the SH17M-2007 strain. Phylogenetic relationships based on the full-length nucleotide sequences were similar to those based on the E gene.