Genetic characteristics of E1 gene of six rubella virus strains isolated in Henan province from 2012 to 2013

Objective To investigate the genetic characteristics of E 1 gene of rubella virus strains isolated in Henan province for further investigation on rubella prevention and control .Methods RNA was extracted from rubella virus strains isolated from suspected measles cases in Henan during 2008 to 2012 .E1 gene of the isolates were amplified by RT-PCR and sequenced .The nucleotide （ nt ） and amino acid （ aa ） sequences of E1 gene of Henan isolates were aligned with the sequences of other reference strains downloaded from GenBank.Phylogenetic tree was constructed by using MEGA 6.0 software package.Results The pre-dominant genotype of rubella virus isolated in Henan was 1E genotype.No 1F genotype was detected.The 2B genotype emerged in 2013.The E1 gene of Henan isolates shared 87.8%-100% homologies in nucleo-tide sequences and 67.0%-100%in amino acids sequences .No variation was detected at hemagglutination inhibition and neutralization sites .A Leu to Phe mutation occurred at amino acid site 338 of 1E genotype in all isolates.Conclusion The results of this study demonstrated that genotype 1E was the predominant geno-type of rubella virus epidemic in Henan province . Key words: Rubella virus; Gene; Analysis