Evolutionary history and spatiotemporal dynamics of DENV-1 genotype V in the Americas

The genotype V has been the most prevalent dengue virus type 1 (DENV-1) clade circulating in the Americas over the last 40 years. In this study, we investigate the spatiotemporal pattern of emergence and dissemination of DENV-1 lineages in the continent. We applied phylogenetic and phylogeographic approaches to a comprehensive data set of 836 DENV-1 E gene sequences of the genotype V isolated from 46 different countries around the world over a period of 50 years (1962 to 2014). Our study reveals that genetic diversity of DENV-1 genotype V in the Americas resulted from two independent introductions of this genotype from India. The first genotype V strain was most probably introduced into the Lesser Antilles at around the early 1970s and this Caribbean region becomes the source population of several DENV-1 lineages that spread in the Americas during the 1970s and 1980s. Most of those lineages appear to become extinct during the 1990s, except one that persisted in Venezuela and later spread to other American countries, dominating the DENV-1 epidemics in the region from the early 2000s onwards. The second genotype V strain of Indian origin was also most probably introduced into the Lesser Antilles at around the early 1980s. This lineage remained almost undetected for nearly 15 years, until it was introduced in Northern Brazil around the middle 1990s and later spread to other country regions. These results demonstrate that different geographic regions have played a role in maintaining and spreading the DENV-1 genotype V in the Americas over time. DENV-1 genotype V lineages have originated, spread and died out in the Americas with very different dynamics and the phenomenon of lineage replacement across successive DENV-1 epidemic outbreaks was a common characteristic in most American countries.