Genotypes of JC virus in East, Central and Southwest Europe

Department of Ophthalmology, University of Freiburg, Killianstr. 5, 79106 Freiburg, Germany 1 Neurotoxicology Section, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, 36 Convent Drive, Room 4A-27, MD 20892-4126, Bethesda, USA 2 Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Biology, University of Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain 3 University Eye Clinic II, SPKSO, Sierakowskiego 13, 03709 Warsaw, Poland 4 Department of Microbiology, Hospital Universitari Germans Trias i Pujol, E-08916 Badalona, Spain 5 Microbiology Department, Donostia Hospital, E-20014 San Sebastián, Spain 6 Author for correspondence: Gerald Stoner. Fax +1 301 496 7297. e-mail stonerg{at}ninds.nih.gov Distinctive genotypes of JC virus have been described for the major continental landmasses. Studies on European-Americans and small cohorts in Europe showed predominantly Type 1. Types 2 and 7 are found in Asia, and Types 3 and 6 in Africa. These genotypes differ in sequence by about 1–3%. Each genotype may have several subtypes which differ from each other by about 0·5–1%. The genotypes can be defined by a distinctive pattern of nucleotides in a typing region of the VP 1 gene. This genotyping approach has been confirmed by phylogenetic reconstruction using the entire genome exclusive of the rearranging regulatory region. In this first large European study, we report on the urinary excretion of JCV DNA of 350 individuals from Poland, Hungary, Germany and Spain. We included Gypsy cohorts in Hungary (Roma), Germany (Sinti), and Spain (Gitano), as well as Basques in Spain. We show that while Type 1 predominates in Europe, the proportions of Type 1A and 1B may differ from East to Southwest Europe. Type 4, closely related to the Type 1 sequence (only 1% difference) was a minor genotype in Germany, Poland and Spain, but represented the majority in Basques. The Gitanos in Spain showed a variant Type 4 sequence termed ‘Rom-1’. Interestingly, neither the Gitanos in Spain, nor Sinti or Roma in Germany or Hungary showed the Type 2 or Type 7 genotype that might be expected if their origins were in an Asian population.