Dengue is a viral disease transmitted by mosquitoes that
in recent years has spread rapidly across all continents. The dengue
virus is transmitted by female mosquitoes, mainly of the
Aedes aegypti species and, to a
lesser extent, of the Aedes albopictus
species. There are four distinct but closely related
serotypes of the virus that causes dengue (DENV-1, DENV-2, DENV-3 and
DENV-4). The present study evaluated and reviewd the temporal spreading
and molecular evolution of dengue virus serotypes worldwide. A total of
1,581 dengue virus whole-genome sequences (WGSs) with available
information from the country and sampling date (Jan/1944 – Jul/2022),
were obtained. Bayesian coalescent analyses with dengue virus WGS were
performed to study viral phylodynamic and phylogeography. The time of
the Most Recent Common Ancestor (tMRCA) and 95% highest posterior
density (HPD 95%) were estimated for each serotype. Bayes factor (BF)
was determined to infer phylogeographic data. The results demonstrated
that the tMRCA of DENV-1 was 1884-11-15 (HPD95%: 1882-01-28;
1890-08-27) in Southeast Asia, DENV-2 was 1723-01-29 (HPD95%:
1714-05-22; 1728-10-09) in Europe, DENV-3 was 1921-04-12 (HPD95%:
1918-05-25; 1924-03-13) in Southeast Asia, and DENV-4 was 1876-03-28
(HPD95%: 1865-08-02; 1899-08-27) in Southeast Asia. The molecular
origin of the dengue virus was in Spain in 1682 (BF=38), later it was
disseminated in Asia (Indonesia; BF=15) and Oceania (Papua New Guinea,
BF=13) in 1847. After this period, the virus presented dissemination in
Asia (Malaysia, BF=13; India, BF=28; and China BF=30) and in North
America (USA; BF=35) in 1890. In South America, it was first
disseminated to Ecuador in 1897 (BF=15) and then to Brazil in 1910
(BF=38). During this same period there were disseminations to countries
such as Puerto Rico (BF=18) and to the African continent (Senegal;
BF=14). After this period, the virus was widely disseminated, especially
in the American and Asian continents. The dengue disease has had a
significant impact on global health worldwide and the present study
provides an overview of the molecular evolution of dengue virus
serotypes (from 1944 to 2022).