Lineage specific markers of influenza B HA gene.

Multiple sequence alignment was carried out using ClustalW in BioEdit with a boostrap replicates of 1000 in line with Edgar [16]. Influenza B/Brisbane/60/2008 was used as the reference sequence for B/Victoria lineages while B/Wisconsin/1/2010, Clade 3 and B/Massachusetts/2/2012, Clade 2 were used as the reference sequence for B Yamagata lineages. Influenza B virus lineage-specific markers (nts 522, 540–542, 548, 549, 555, 558 and 568) are shown in yellow, whereas the clade specific markers (nts 538, 562 and 589) have been highlighted as green.</p

A sample gel image.

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A schematic of primer locations on the influenza B HA gene.

A schematic representation of the influenza B HA gene showing overlapping fragments and their expected sizes in base pairs. All sixteen primers and their corresponding eight fragments are shown. Red and green colors indicate fragment numbers and expected sizes, respectively.</p

Phylogenetic analysis of influenza B Yamagata lineage using the HA genes.

Bootstrap values over 80% are indicated on the tree. Red represents the WHO vaccine candidate virus genome, pink represents reference Ghanaian specimens sequenced at the Francis Crick Institute, blue represents the sequences we identified, green represents the deletion sub-group, Amino acid changes in black represent those within HA1, with violet representing changes in the HA2.</p

HA amino acid alignment for influenza B Yamagata-lineage.

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Details of primers used for this research.

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Phylogenetic analysis of influenza B Victoria lineage using HA genes.

Bootstrap values over 80% are indicated on the tree. Red represents the WHO vaccine candidate virus genome, pink represents reference Ghanaian specimens sequenced at the Francis Crick Institute, blue represents the sequences obtained from our retrospective analysis, green represents the deletion sub-group, Amino acid changes in black represent those within HA1, with violet representing changes in the HA2.</p

Potential glycosylation sites of influenza B Yamagata HA genes.

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Accession numbers of influenza B sequences in NCBI influenza Virus Resource and GISAID used for the phylogenetic reconstruction of HA genes.

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HA amino acid alignment for influenza B Victoria-lineage viruses.

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