title: Molecular evolution of the capsid gene in human norovirus genogroup II.
abstract: Capsid protein of norovirus genogroup II (GII) plays crucial roles in host infection. Although studies on capsid gene evolution have been conducted for a few genotypes of norovirus, the molecular evolution of norovirus GII is not well understood. Here we report the molecular evolution of all GII genotypes, using various bioinformatics techniques. The time-scaled phylogenetic tree showed that the present GII strains diverged from GIV around 1630CE at a high evolutionary rate (around 10(-3) substitutions/site/year), resulting in three lineages. The GII capsid gene had large pairwise distances (maximum > 0.39). The effective population sizes of the present GII strains were large (>10(2)) for about 400 years. Positive (20) and negative (over 450) selection sites were estimated. Moreover, some linear and conformational B-cell epitopes were found in the deduced GII capsid protein. These results suggested that norovirus GII strains rapidly evolved with high divergence and adaptation to humans.
authors.affiliation: Gunma Prefectural Institute of Public Health and Environmental Science, Maebashi-shi, Gunma 371-0052, Japan.
authors.forename: Miho
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
authors.affiliation: Kawasaki City Institute for Public Health, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa 210-0821, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Matsushima
authors.affiliation: Ibaraki Prefectural Institute of Public Health, Mito-shi, Ibaraki 310-0852, Japan.
authors.forename: Takumi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Motoya
authors.affiliation: Osaka Prefectural Institute of Public Health, Osaka-shi, Osaka 537-0025, Japan.
authors.forename: Naomi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sakon
authors.affiliation: Hiroshima Prefectural Technology Research Institute, Public Health and Environment Center, Hiroshima-shi, Hiroshima 734-0007, Japan.
authors.forename: Naoki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Shigemoto
authors.affiliation: Yamaguchi Prefectural Institute of Public Health and Environment, Yamaguchi-shi, Yamaguchi 753-0821, Japan.
authors.forename: Reiko
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Okamoto-Nakagawa
authors.affiliation: Kumamoto Prefectural Institute of Public-Health and Environmental Science, Uto-shi, Kumamoto 869-0425, Japan.
authors.forename: Koichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nishimura
authors.affiliation: Ehime Prefectural Institute of Public Health and Environmental Science, Matsuyama-shi, Ehime 790-0003, Japan.
authors.forename: Yasutaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yamashita
authors.affiliation: Pathogen Genomics Center, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Musashimurayama-shi, Tokyo 208-0011, Japan.
authors.forename: Makoto
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kuroda
authors.affiliation: Gunma Prefectural Institute of Public Health and Environmental Science, Maebashi-shi, Gunma 371-0052, Japan.
authors.forename: Nobuhiro
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Saruki
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Yokohama City University Graduate School of Medicine, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa 236-0027, Japan.
authors.forename: Akihide
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ryo
authors.affiliation: Department of 1st Internal Medicine, Kyorin University School of Medicine, Mitaka-shi, Tokyo 181-0004, Japan.
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Saraya
authors.affiliation: Department of Food and Nutrition, Tokyo Kasei University, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo 173-0003, Japan.
authors.forename: Yukio
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Morita
authors.affiliation: Yamaguchi Prefectural Institute of Public Health and Environment, Yamaguchi-shi, Yamaguchi 753-0821, Japan.
authors.forename: Komei
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shirabe
authors.affiliation: Kawasaki City Institute for Public Health, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa 210-0821, Japan.
authors.forename: Mariko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ishikawa
authors.affiliation: Iwate Prefectural Meat Inspection Center, Shiwa-cho, Iwate 020-3311, Japan.
authors.forename: Tomoko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.affiliation: Ehime Prefectural Institute of Public Health and Environmental Science, Matsuyama-shi, Ehime 790-0003, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroto
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shinomiya
authors.affiliation: Kawasaki City Institute for Public Health, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa 210-0821, Japan.
authors.forename: Nobuhiko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Okabe
authors.affiliation: Infectious Disease Surveillance Center, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Musashimurayama-shi, Tokyo 208-0011, Japan.
authors.forename: Koo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nagasawa
authors.affiliation: Division of Biological Science, Nagoya City University, Nagoya-shi, Aichi 467-0000, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoshiyuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.affiliation: Department of Virology II, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Musashimurayama-shi, Tokyo 208-0011, Japan.
authors.forename: Kazuhiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Katayama
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Yokohama City University Graduate School of Medicine, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa 236-0027, Japan.|Infectious Disease Surveillance Center, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Musashimurayama-shi, Tokyo 208-0011, Japan.
authors.forename: Hirokazu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kimura
mesh_terms: D036022:Capsid Proteins / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005814:Genes, Viral; D005838:Genotype; D029322:Norovirus / Q000235:genetics*; D010802:Phylogeny; D011336:Probability; D011487:Protein Conformation
chemical_list: D036022:Capsid Proteins