Provenance-aware handling of identical dengue genome records alters inferred envelope-protein variation in Bangladesh DENV-3

In a frozen Bangladesh-associated DENV-3 envelope dataset of 426 sequences, provenance-aware handling of 18 identical August 2021 records linked to AY099336.1 changes inferred variable E positions (21 to 8).

• Why it matters: Identical public genome records can be either kept as representatives or removed, and that choice can shift which envelope-protein variants are prioritized for downstream antigenic or antibody-related follow-up.
• What they did: The authors compared three record-handling strategies—exact-sequence deduplication, a prespecified provenance-sensitive exclusion, and a Nextstrain accession list—using 426 Bangladesh-associated DENV-3 E sequences, focusing on a 2021 subset of 96 accessions.
• The result: Whole-cohort deduplication (47 retained) and representative retention (79 retained) preserved all 21 variable E positions, while excluding the 18-record group (78 retained) reduced variability to eight positions, with the same eight positions after applying the full Nextstrain saved list.

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