Molecular epidemiology of merkel cell polyomavirus: evidence for geographically related variant genotypes.

Claire Martel-Jantin (1, 2) , Claudia Filippone (2) , Patricia Tortevoye (2) , Philippe V Afonso (2) , Edouard Betsem (3, 2) , Stéphane Descorps-Declere (4) , Jérôme T J Nicol (5, 6) , Antoine Touzé (6, 5) , Pierre Coursaget (6, 5) , Maryse Crouzat (7) , Nicolas Berthet (2) , Olivier Cassar (2) , Antoine Gessain (2)

1 Cellule Pasteur
2 EPVO (UMR_3569 / U-Pasteur_3) - Epidémiologie et Physiopathologie des Virus Oncogènes
3 Faculté de Médecine et des Sciences Biomédicales
4 Bioanalyse génomique (Plate-Forme)
5 UMR ISP - Infectiologie et Santé Publique
6 Faculté des Sciences Pharmaceutiques
7 Centre Hospitalier Territorial de Noumea

Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCPyV) is linked to a cutaneous cancer mainly occurring in Caucasians. DNA from skin swabs of 255 adults, originating from the 5 continents, were subjected to MCPyV PCRs. Phylogenetic analyses demonstrate the existence of 5 major geographically related MCPyV genotypes (Europe/North America, Africa [sub-Saharan], Oceania, South America, and Asia/Japan).

Domains: Life Sciences [q-bio]

Claire Martel-Jantin, Claudia Filippone, Patricia Tortevoye, Philippe V Afonso, Edouard Betsem, et al.. Molecular epidemiology of merkel cell polyomavirus: evidence for geographically related variant genotypes.. Journal of Clinical Microbiology, 2014, 52 (5), pp.1687-90. ⟨10.1128/JCM.02348-13⟩. ⟨pasteur-01370940⟩