Institute of Biological and Health Sciences, Federal University of Alagoas (UFAL), Campus A.C. Simões, AL, Brazil.
Department of Basic Sciences, Faculty of Animal Science and Food Engineering, University of São Paulo (USP), Pirassununga, SP, Brazil.
Virus Res. 2022 Sep;318:198850. doi: 10.1016/j.virusres.2022.198850. Epub 2022 Jun 21.
The human Respiratory Syncytial Virus (hRSV) is the main causative agent of acute respiratory infections (ARI), such as pneumonia and bronchiolitis. One of the factors that lead to success in viral replication is the interaction of the M2-2 protein with the ribosomal complex. This interaction is responsible for the phase change of viral activity, acting as an inhibitor or inducer of viral replication, according to the concentration of mRNA. Based on the importance of M2-2 gene and protein have to viral physiology, we performed here evaluations of genetic diversity, phylogenetic reconstructions, phylodynamics, and selection test. Our results suggested an alternative way of classifying this virus in clades A and B, based on a new phylogenetic marker, the M2-2 gene. Therefore, our study is the first one to investigate the dynamics of the evolutionary diversification process of hRSV from the perspective of the M2-2 viral gene. In our study was also identified that the M2-2 gene is under the effect of purifying selection originated by population genetic bottlenecks. Therefore, the M2-2 gene demonstrated an interesting potential to be applied in evolutionary studies involving hRSV, recovering phylogenetic signals and traits of natural selection under the evolution of this virus.
人呼吸道合胞病毒（hRSV）是引起急性呼吸道感染（ARI）的主要病原体，如肺炎和细支气管炎。导致病毒复制成功的因素之一是 M2-2 蛋白与核糖体复合物的相互作用。根据 mRNA 的浓度，这种相互作用负责病毒活性的相变化，作为病毒复制的抑制剂或诱导剂。鉴于 M2-2 基因和蛋白对病毒生理学的重要性，我们在此对遗传多样性、系统发育重建、系统发生动力学和选择测试进行了评估。我们的结果表明，根据新的系统发育标记 M2-2 基因，可以替代 A 和 B 群系对该病毒进行分类。因此，我们的研究首次从 M2-2 病毒基因的角度调查了 hRSV 进化多样化过程的动力学。在我们的研究中还发现，M2-2 基因受到由种群遗传瓶颈引起的纯化选择的影响。因此，M2-2 基因具有有趣的潜力，可用于涉及 hRSV 的进化研究，恢复该病毒进化过程中遗传信号和自然选择特征。
