Complete nucleotide sequence, genomic organization and phylogenetic analysis of a novel genital human papillomavirus type, HLT474-S

A novel human papillomavirus (HPV) type, HLT7474-S, was isolated from a cer vical scraping of a female sex worker with a wart virus infection. The comp lete DNA sequence of 7812 bp was derived from four overlapping PCR products and authenticated by RFLP analysis. The L1 gene exhibited 78 % identity to those of its most closely related known HPV types in group A7, comprising HPV types 18, 39, 45, 59, 68 and 70. The genomic organization and phylogene tic analysis of HLT7474-S and group A7 HPVs reiterated their relatedness. O f significance were the strong sequence similarity, phylogenetic relationsh ip and conservation of critical motifs between the transforming E6 and E7 o f HLT7474-S and E6 of HPV-18 and E7 of HPV-59, respectively. These features clearly suggest that HLT7474-S is a high-risk genital HPV isolate, closely related to HPV-18 and other members of the A7 group of genital HPVs.