Genetic variation of E6, E7, and L1 genes of human papillomavirus 51 from central China

Abstract

The incidence of cervical cancer is closely related to high‐risk human papillomavirus (HR‐HPV). Women in Jingzhou had relatively high susceptibility to HPV‐51, whose ratio was 9.61% (456/4743) among HR‐HPV‐positive samples and ranked fifth in all analyzed HR‐HPV types. In this study, variations and phylogenetic trees of HPV‐51 E6−E7 and L1 sequences were analyzed by MEGA‐X. The selective pressure was estimated using PAML. The B‐cell epitope of L1 amino acid sequences and T‐cell epitope of E6 and E7 amino acid sequences were further predicted by ABCpred server and IEDB website, respectively. In the E6−E7 sequences 14 single nucleotide variants occurred, among which 4 were nonsynonymous variants and 10 were synonymous variants. A total of 41 single nucleotide variants were identified in the L1 sequences, including 10 nonsynonymous variants and 31 synonymous variants. All the isolates of both E6−E7 and L1 were classified into the A variant lineage. In HPV‐51 E6−E7 and L1 sequences, no positively selected site was found. Two nonconservative substitutions, H119Y and N176S in L1, affected multiple hypothetical B‐cell epitopes. Three nonconservative substitutions, T86P, S100L in E6, and F29L in E7, affected multiple hypothetical T‐cell epitopes. Elucidation of the HR‐HPV prevalence characteristics and genetic variations of HPV‐51 in central China may contribute to future investigations of diagnostic probes, therapeutic or preventative vaccines with wider coverage.