Molecular evolution of human respiratory syncytial virus attachment glycoprotein (G) gene of new genotype ON1 and ancestor NA1

Abstract We conducted a comprehensive genetic analysis of the C-terminal 3rd hypervariable region of the attachment glycoprotein ( G ) gene in human respiratory syncytial virus subgroup A (HRSV-A) genotype ON1 (93 strains) and ancestor NA1 (125 strains). Genotype ON1 contains a unique mutation of a 72 nucleotide tandem repeat insertion (corresponding to 24 amino acids) in the hypervariable region. The Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method was used to conduct phylogenetic analysis and a time scale for evolution. We also calculated pairwise distances ( p -distances) and estimated the selective pressure. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the analyzed ON1 and NA1 strains formed 4 lineages. A strain belonging to lineage 4 of ON1 showed wide genetic divergence ( p -distance, 0.072), which suggests that it might be a candidate new genotype, namely ON2. The emergence of genotype NA1 was estimated to have occurred in 2000 (95% of highest probability density, HPD; 1997–2002) and that of genotype ON1 in 2005 (95% HPD; 2000–2010) based on the time-scaled phylogenetic tree. The evolutionary rate of genotype ON1 was higher than that of ancestral genotype NA1 (6.03 × 10 −3 vs. 4.61 × 10 −3 substitutions/site/year, p