title: Clusterons as a tool for monitoring populations of tick-borne encephalitis virus.
abstract: Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) is a natural focal viral neuroinfection that is widespread in the temperate zone of Eurasia. Knowledge of the genetic structure of tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) populations is important for understanding, not only the origin and evolution of the virus, but also the formation and maintenance of natural foci. A new approach to the differentiation of TBEV strains within subtype, with clusterons as the basis of analysis, has recently been proposed. In the present study, the genetic structure of TBEV-Sib populations has been investigated based on 387 strains isolated in the Middle Urals (Sverdlovsk region). Fourteen of the 18 currently known TBEV-Sib clusterons were identified. They belong to the Asian and Eastern European (Baltic) groups. It was shown that each TBE foci could be characterized by a unique clusteron profile. Three clusterons that emerged within the last 50 years have been identified which implies an active evolutionary process in the TBEV-Sib populations. The greatest diversity of clusterons was observed in the south of the Middle Urals along the Trans-Siberian Way. Such a pattern could reflect the history of colonization of the area and is closely related to the roads passing from Siberia to the European part of Russia through the Urals. In this article, the principles of continuous monitoring in the regional and local TBE foci are proposed, based on the quantitative and qualitative analysis of TBEV-Sib clusteron profiles.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, Department of Biology, Ural Federal University, Yekaterinburg, Russia.
authors.forename: Sergey Y
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Kovalev
authors.forename: Tatyana A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Mukhacheva
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D004669:Encephalitis Viruses, Tick-Borne / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006801:Humans; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D058974:Phylogeography; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D012426:Russia; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D012367:RNA, Viral
keywords: clusteron; genetic structure; monitoring; natural focus; tick-borne encephalitis virus