[Analysis of genetic variability of strains of tick-borne encephalitis virus by primary structure of a fragment of the membrane protein E gene].

Primary structures of gene fragments of E protein (160 n.b.) have been determined for 29 tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) strains isolated from different parts of a territory. Analysis of homology of nucleotide sequences of these strains and data on 6 TBE strains published by other authors showed that they can be divided into 6 groups (genotypes) by the following gene typing criteria: strain structure within the genotypes differing by no more than 9%, differences between strains of different genotypes are at least 12%. Based on these criteria, the prototype strains of the Far Eastern antigenic variant (Sofyin), Central European antigenic variant (Neudoerfle), and Vergina strain form different genotypes 1, 2, and 6, respectively. East Siberian strain Aina and Ural Siberian strain Lesopark-II belong to the same TBE virus genotype 3; two-thirds of analyzed strains belong to this genotype. Genotype 4 is represented by one strain 178-79, and genotype 5 by strain 886-84, both isolated in East Siberia.