Rare BK polyomavirus subtype III detected in hematopoietic cell transplant recipient

Abstract

BK polyomavirus (BKPyV) is associated with disease in transplant patients. BKPyV genomic diversity is thought to contribute to functional differences in virulence factors. Here, we present the near full-length BKPyV genome sequence from a patient who underwent hematopoietic cell transplant and was infected with subtype III, a rare subtype.

Keywords: BK polyomavirus; hematopoietic cell transplant; subtype; viral diversity.

Fig 1

A multiple sequence alignment was performed in ClustalX 2.1 using pairwise alignment parameters, and a phylogenetic tree was generated using the neighbor-joining algorithm. Five representative reference sequences—from different countries of origin when available—were selected for each of the previously described BKPyV subtypes, including the four sub-genotypes of subtype I. References are labeled with their GenBank accession number, country, and BKPyV subtype. The sample sequence of interest is highlighted in red. Bootstrap values ≥ 700 have been included as branch labels.