The comparative genomics of human respiratory syncytial virus subgroups A and B: genetic variability and molecular evolutionary dynamics.

ABSTRACT: Genomic variation and related evolutionary dynamics of human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a common causative agent of severe lower respiratory tract infections, may affect its transmission behavior. RSV evolutionary patterns are likely to be influenced by a precarious interplay between selection favoring variants with higher replicative fitness and variants that evade host immune responses. Studying RSV genetic variation can reveal both the genes and the individual codons within these genes that are most crucial for RSV survival. In this study, we conducted genetic diversity and evolutionary rate analyses on 36 RSV subgroup B (RSV-B) whole-genome sequences. The attachment protein, G, was the most variable protein; accordingly, the G gene had a higher substitution rate than other RSV-

SUBMITTER: Tan L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3700225 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature