INTRATYPIC GENOME VARIABILITY OF ECHOVIRUS TYPE-30 IN PART OF THE VP4VP2 CODING REGION/

The genetic relationship of 33 echovirus type 30 (E30) isolates associ ated with three different outbreaks of meningitis in Norway and one ou tbreak in USA was assessed using direct sequencing of amplicons derive d from a region covering part of the capsid proteins VP4 and VP2. The E30 sequences were compared to each other, and to other enteroviruses. Less sequence variation was observed between the isolates from a sing le outbreak (2-3%) than between groups of isolates from different outb reaks (4-9%). All observed nucleotide substitutions were amino acid si lent. Homology between enteroviruses obtained from GenEMBL and the nuc leotide consensus sequence generated from the E30 isolates varied betw een 44.8% (coxsackievirus A24) and 72.6% (coxsackievirus A9). Comparin g the E30 sequences in this part of the genome with other enteroviruse s, E30 clearly belongs to the coxsackie B-like virus group.