title: Molecular evolutionary dynamics of Ross River virus and implications for vaccine efficacy.
abstract: Ross River virus (RRV) is a mosquito-borne member of the genus Alphavirus that causes epidemic polyarthritis in humans, costing the Australian health system at least US$10 million annually. Recent progress in RRV vaccine development requires accurate assessment of RRV genetic diversity and evolution, particularly as they may affect the utility of future vaccination. In this study, we provide novel RRV genome sequences and investigate the evolutionary dynamics of RRV from time-structured E2 gene datasets. Our analysis indicates that, although RRV evolves at a similar rate to other alphaviruses (mean evolutionary rate of approx. 8x10(-4) nucleotide substitutions per site year(-1)), the relative genetic diversity of RRV has been continuously low through time, possibly as a result of purifying selection imposed by replication in a wide range of natural host and vector species. Together, these findings suggest that vaccination against RRV is unlikely to result in the rapid antigenic evolution that could compromise the future efficacy of current RRV vaccines.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, 60 Musk Avenue, Brisbane 4059, Australia.
authors.forename: Anita
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: Kym
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lowry
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Aaskov
authors.forename: Edward C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Holmes
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kitchen
mesh_terms: D018354:Alphavirus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000821:virology*; D000818:Animals; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D036022:Capsid Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D009033:Culicidae; D004199:Disease Vectors; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D014644:Genetic Variation; D016679:Genome, Viral; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D012398:Ross River virus / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017385:Sequence Homology; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D014765:Viral Vaccines / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D036022:Capsid Proteins; C085817:E2 protein, Ross River virus; D012367:RNA, Viral; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins; D014765:Viral Vaccines