Seoul(SEO) virus, the murid rodent-borne Hantavirus harbored by the Norway or common rat (Rattus rattus & Rattus norvegicus). has been known to another etiologic agent causes hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome(HFRS) in Korea. To evaluate the
detection rate of SEO viral antigen from the HFRS patients' sera, and to determine the genomic diversity and molecular phylogeny of SEO viruses found in Korea, We amplified enzymatically and sequenced directly for the 5' G2-encoding regions of M
genomic
segment of SEO viruses extracted from acute phase sera obtained from the HFRS patients diagnosed by indirect immunofluorescent antibody technique(IFA). The detection rate was 1.6%(6 positive cases on 368 seropositive samples) by nested reverse
transcription polymerase chain reaction(nested RT-PCR). Based on 321 nucleotides and 106 amino acids, the SEO virus strains from Korea compare each other showed 95.6-99.4%(2 to 14 base substitutions) and 92.6-100%(0 to 3 amino acid substitutions)
homologies, respectively. Interestingly, SEO virus strains from the different geographic areas(Korea, Japan, People's Republic of China, Hong Kong, United States, Egypt and Braza1) were only differed with 0.3-7.8%(1 to 25 base substitutions) in
nucleotide level and 0-6.6%(0 to 7 amino acid substitutions) in amino acid level compared each other. Using the maximum parsimony method, phylogenetic tree showed no geographic restriction. The failure of SEO virus strains to segregate according
to
their geographic origin is consistent with the worldwide distribution and intercontinental migration through port areas of its rodent reservoir, Rattus species.
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