Comparative Phylogenetic Analysis of E6 and E7

Simultaneous phylogenetic analysis of E6 and E7 proteins of 42 different HPV strains was carried out indetail. Both E6 and E7 proteins of different HPV strains consistently showed evolutionary divergence intotwo major distinct lineages. While E6 protein was further differentiated into 7 smaller lineages, E7differentiated into 8 lineages. Multiple Sequence Alignment (MSA) results revealed their amino acid profilesdemonstrated conserved lineage-specific substitutions independently. Dendrogram topologies of E6 andE7 proteins among different HPV strains were very similar which showed that in most of the strains ofHPV, both the proteins were evolved in a similar manner. Also, similar phylogenetic profiles among differentHPV types having fully / highly conserved residues were observed, suggesting possible functional similaritiesamong different strains. Completion of evolutionary analysis of the E6 and E7 proteins of 42 HPV strainsrevealed co-dependent evolution of genes with some variations.