Evolution and diversity of human adenoviruses isolated from patients with keratoconjunctivitis

Chiman Karami; Kamyar Mazloum Jalali; Shahram Jalilian; Gholamreza Khataminia; Somayeh Biparva Haghighi; Mohammad Karimi Babaahmadi; Reza Taherkhani; Manoochehr Makvandi

doi:10.18502/ijm.v14i3.9792

Evolution and diversity of human adenoviruses isolated from patients with keratoconjunctivitis

Iran J Microbiol. 2022 Jun;14(3):402-409. doi: 10.18502/ijm.v14i3.9792.

Authors

Chiman Karami^{1

2}, Kamyar Mazloum Jalali^{3

4}, Shahram Jalilian¹, Gholamreza Khataminia⁵, Somayeh Biparva Haghighi⁶, Mohammad Karimi Babaahmadi⁷, Reza Taherkhani⁸, Manoochehr Makvandi¹

Affiliations

¹ Infectious and Tropical Diseases Research Center, Health Research Institute, Department of Virology, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran.
² Department of Microbiology, Parasitology and Immunology, School of Medicine, Ardabil University of Medical Sciences, Ardabil, Iran.
³ Department of Microbiology and Medical Virology, School of Medicine, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran.
⁴ Reference Laboratory, Qazvin University of Medical Sciences, Qazvin, Iran.
⁵ Department of Ophthalmology, Imam Khomeini Hospital, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran.
⁶ Department of General Courses, School of Medicine, Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran.
⁷ Department of Medical Biotechnology, Faculty of Advance Medical Sciences, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
⁸ Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, School of Medicine, Bushehr University of Medical Sciences, Bushehr, Iran.

Abstract

Background and objectives: Human adenovirus type 8 is a highly contagious eye disease and is considered as the most common epidemic keratoconjunctivitis worldwide. The virus may alter the course of detection as mutations and recombination in surface antigens are associated with binding and pathogenesis in human adenovirus. The recognition of new recombinant human adenovirus has been based on sequencing of three genes, penton base, hexon and fiber.

Materials and methods: 50 suspected samples of ocular keratoconjunctivitis were selected over 6 months. Following DNA extraction from isolates positive for cytopathic effect in each well, the complete sequences of hexon, fiber, and penton regions were performed on the genome of human adenovirus isolates using PCR. The sequences of capsid genes, including hexon, fiber, and penton were assessed to observe the evidence of recombination at the molecular level using genetic tools.

Results: The results of nucleotide and amino acid sequence of 5/50 patients with epidemic keratoconjunctivitis positive for hypervariable region of hexon (132_aa -449), hypervariable of knob fiber (183_aa -362) and hypervariable penton (106_aa -466) isolates showed nucleotide and amino acid identity of 98% and 99.41%, 99% and 100%, 95% and 99.72% with hexon, fiber and penton of human adenovirus 8 subtypes. The results of phylogenetic tree and Simplot of the entire sequences and hypervariable regions of isolated hexon, fiber and penton showed all the isolates of human adenovirus from Ahvaz, Iran, were clustered with human adenovirus 8A, B, E, P and J, subtypes isolated strains from different regions of the world.

Conclusion: The results of this study revealed that the human adenovirus isolates from patients with epidemic keratoconjunctivitis were closed to human adenovirus 8A, B, E, P and J subtypes. To determine the emergence of new human adenovirus D8 subtypes strain, analysis of complete genome sequence of human adenovirus was required.

Keywords: Evolution; Human adenovirus; Infections; Keratoconjunctivitis; Recombination.