Multilevel Bioinformatic Analysis of Dengue Serotypes and Variations

Dengue is a mosquito-borne disease usually found in tropical environments. Over the past few years, global instances of this disease have drastically increased and nearly half the world has been classified as, “at risk.” The purpose of our research project was to identify the homology and phylogenetic relationship among the four-dengue virus (DENV) serotypes circulating in Nicaragua. We used the whole viral genome sequence of the DENV-1, DENV-2, DENV-3 and DENV-4 done by next-generation sequencing. Using bioinformatics tools including Burrows-Wheeler Aligner, SAMtools, and MEGAX, we constructed the consensus sequences of each serotype, identified single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), and performed the phylogenetic analysis. The phylogenetic tree showed a close relationship of DENV-1 with DENV-3, and DENV-2 clustered with DENV-4. From this research project, the phylogenetic analysis of four DENV serotypes provided a clear, visual representation of similarities and differences in Nicaraguan isolates