Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, Department of Biology, Ural Federal University, Lenin Avenue 51, Yekaterinburg 620000, Russia.
Infect Genet Evol. 2013 Mar;14:22-8. doi: 10.1016/j.meegid.2012.10.011. Epub 2012 Nov 28.
Tick-borne encephalitis is a natural focal transmissible zooanthroponosis. The causative agent of the disease is a tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) belonging to the genus Flavivirus of the family Flaviviridae and is widespread in Eurasia. Current TBEV classification based on molecular genetic data comprises three phylogenetically separate subtypes: Far Eastern, European and Siberian (TBEV-Sib). Further differentiation of TBEV isn't developed, making it difficult to investigate the origins, distribution and evolution of the virus. In the present study we determined the nucleotide sequence of the gene E fragment for 282 TBEV-Sib isolates from Ixodes persulcatus ticks or their pools from various natural foci in Russia. Analysis of these sequences and sequences obtained from the GenBank database (more than 600), made it possible to cluster TBEV-Sib strains by identical amino acid sequences of a glycoprotein E fragment. In total, 18 groups were identified (from 3 to 285 strains in the group). It was shown that TBEV strains belonging to the same group are phylogenetically related and have a territorial attachment showing either a local or a corridor type distribution. These groups were named as clusterons showed to be the smallest unit of TBEV classification. The grouping of TBEV strains allows characterization of endemic areas both in quantitative and qualitative composition of the clusterons. The approach could be successfully used to record and monitor the TBEV populations.
蜱传脑炎是一种自然发生的传染性人畜共患病。该病的病原体是蜱传脑炎病毒（TBEV），属于黄病毒科黄病毒属，广泛分布于欧亚大陆。目前根据分子遗传学数据对 TBEV 的分类包括三个在系统发育上分离的亚型：远东型、欧洲型和西伯利亚型（TBEV-Sib）。进一步的 TBEV 分化尚未得到发展，这使得难以研究病毒的起源、分布和进化。在本研究中，我们测定了来自俄罗斯不同自然疫源地的 282 株全沟硬蜱或其幼虫池中的西伯利亚型 TBEV 的 E 片段基因的核苷酸序列。对这些序列和从 GenBank 数据库中获得的超过 600 个序列的分析，使得能够根据糖蛋白 E 片段的相同氨基酸序列对 TBEV-Sib 株进行聚类。总共确定了 18 个组（每组有 3 到 285 株）。结果表明，属于同一组的 TBEV 株在系统发育上是相关的，并且具有地域联系，表现出局部或走廊型分布。这些组被命名为聚类单胞体，它们被证明是 TBEV 分类的最小单位。TBEV 株的分组可以对聚类单胞体的数量和质量组成进行定区和定性特征描述。该方法可成功用于记录和监测 TBEV 种群。
