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Evolutionary dynamics of group A and B respiratory syncytial virus in China, 2009-2018

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Abstract

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a major cause of acute respiratory tract infections in children and is a public health threat globally. To investigate the spatiotemporal dynamics of RSV evolution, we performed systematic phylogenetic analysis using all available sequences from the GenBank database, together with sequences from Shanghai, China. Both RSV-A and RSV-B appear to have originated in North America, with an inferred origin time of 1954.0 (1938.7-1967.6) and 1969.7 (1962.6-1975.5), respectively. BA-like strains of RSV-B, with a 60-nt insertion, and the ON1 strain of RSV-A, with a 72-nt insertion, emerged in 1997.6 (1996.2-1998.6) and 2010.1 (2009.1-2010.3), respectively. Since their origin, both genotypes have gradually replaced the former circulating genotypes to become the dominant strain. The population dynamic of RSV-A showed a seasonal epidemic pattern with obvious expansion in the periods of 2006-2007, 2010-2011, 2011-2012, and 2013-2014. Thirty fixed amino acid substitutions were identified during the divergence of NA4 from GA1 genotypes of RSV-A, and 13 were found during the divergence of SAB4 from GB1 of RSV-B. Importantly, ongoing evolution has occurred since the emergence of ON1, including four amino acid substitutions (I208L, E232G, T253K, and P314L). RSV-A genotypes GA5, NA4, NA1, and ON1 and RSV-B genotypes CB1, SAB4, BA-C, BA10, BA7, and BA9 were co-circulating in China from 2005 to 2015. In particular, RSV-A genotype ON1 was first detected in China in 2011, and it completely replaced GA2 to become the predominant strain after 2016. These data provide important insights into the evolution and epidemiology of RSV.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Ms. Lulu Zuo at Institut Pasteur of Shanghai, CAS, for her technical support and helpful suggestions.

Funding

This work was supported by grants from the Health Commission of Jiangsu Province (Z2019038) and the National Science and Technology Major Project of China (2017ZX10103009-001 and 2017ZX10103009-002).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center, Fudan University, Shanghai, 201508, China

    Yingying Ma, Haixia Jiang, Yingxue Li, Wei Wang, Xia Jin, Yanpeng Li & Chiyu Zhang

  2. Medical Laboratory of Taizhou Fourth People’s Hospital, Taizhou, China

    Zhenzhou Wan

  3. Shanghai International Travel Healthcare Center, Shanghai, China

    Shenwei Li

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  1. Yingying Ma
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Contributions

CZ conceived and designed the study. SL and WW collected and screened the samples. HJ, ZW, and Y-XL performed the experiments. YM performed the phylogenetic analyses. YM, CZ, and Y-PL interpreted the results. YM and Y-PL wrote the manuscript. JX provided critical suggestions on the results and contributed to revision of the manuscript. All authors read the manuscript and approved the submitted version.

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Correspondence to Yanpeng Li or Chiyu Zhang.

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Ma, Y., Jiang, H., Wan, Z. et al. Evolutionary dynamics of group A and B respiratory syncytial virus in China, 2009-2018. Arch Virol 166, 2407–2418 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-021-05139-2

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