Phylogenetic characterization of canine distemper virus isolates from naturally infected dogs and a marten in Korea

We sequenced the hemagglutinin (H) genes from four canine distemper virus (CDV) isolates obtained from three dogs and a marten in Korea. These sequences were included in subsequent H gene-focused phylogenetic tree analysis of 89 CDV strains. This analysis revealed eight clades designated as EU1, EU2, EU3, NA1, NA2, Asia 1, Asia 2 and Vaccine. Three of the Korean isolates (97Jindo, 98Marten and 07D111) occurred in the Asia 2 group that also contains many Japanese CDV strains isolated in 1998. The remaining Korean strain (07Q72) fell into the Asia 1 group. The 21 H protein sequences of 25 Asia 1 strains are generally predicted to bear nine potential N-linked glycosylation sites. In contrast, the 9 H protein sequences of 12 Asia 2 strains had eight potential N-linked glycosylation sites. The remaining strains had six (98Marten and 07D111) and seven (97Jindo) potential N-linked glycosylation sites.