Comparative evolutionary and phylogenomic analysis of Avian avulaviruses 1–20

Publication date: Available online 26 June 2018Source: Molecular Phylogenetics and EvolutionAuthor(s): Aziz-ul-Rahman, Muhammad Munir, Muhammad Zubair ShabbirAbstractAvian avulaviruses (avulaviruses or AAvVs) infect a wide range of avian species worldwide with variable clinical outcomes and economic impacts. Owing to broad host spectrum, several novel avulaviruses are being reported from both wild and domesticated birds that highlight the potential of the virus to evolve, adapt and emerge in susceptible population. Pathobiological and phylogenetic characterizations of individual avulaviruses are often demonstrated, however, a cumulative and comparative assessment of avulaviruses remains elusive. To assess evolutionary dynamics and potential emergence of novel avulaviruses, we enriched existing databases of all known avulaviruses (specie-type 1–20), and determined their genomics features based on both complete genomes and individual complete genes. While a high nucleotide divergence (up to 65.4%) was observed among avulaviruses, phylogenomic analysis revealed clustering of all avulaviruses into three distinct clades. The major clade (Clade-I) included both oldest and newest avulaviruses (2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 14, 15 and 20) and the second clade (Clade-II) consisted of avulaviruses 1, 9, 12, 13, 16, 17, 18 and 19, whereas the third clade (Clade-III) carried only avulaviruses 3 and 4. Intriguingly, clustering pattern was descriptive for individual gene-based analysis, however...

Source: Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution - July 10, 2018 Category: Molecular Biology Source Type: research