title: Virulence in Newcastle disease virus: A genotyping and molecular evolution spectrum perspective.
abstract: In our research, the molecular evolutions of NDV F and HN genes were analyzed. The phylogenetic analyses of NDV sequences indicated that NDV could be divided into two genotypes: Class I (lentogenic strains) and Class II (velogenic or mesogenic strains). Each genotype possesses high gene homology. Furthermore, the selected pressure analysis showed that the dN/dS of velogenic, mesogenic NDV strains F gene was significantly high and the ω(dN/dS) is 1.1725>1. These results imply that mutations in velogenic, mesogenic NDV F gene are favored by positive natural selection and it has acted to diversify NDV virulence at the nucleotide and amino acid level. We estimated that the subsequent rapid adaptation of the Newcastle disease virus to chickens were likely dependent on a high rate of mutation and the positive selection of mutations in the major F gene.
authors.affiliation: College of Veterinary Medicine, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an 271018, China.
authors.forename: Wentao
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.affiliation: College of Veterinary Medicine, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an 271018, China.
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: College of Veterinary Medicine, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an 271018, China.
authors.forename: Shenghua
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: College of Veterinary Medicine, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an 271018, China.
authors.forename: Ziqiang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: College of Veterinary Medicine, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an 271018, China.
authors.forename: Huijun
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Animal Disease Control Engineering Shandong Province, Tai'an 271018, China. Electronic address: zhaoxn@sdau.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Xiaona
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: College of Veterinary Medicine, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an 271018, China. Electronic address: Liujz@sdau.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Jianzhu
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005838:Genotype; D015707:HN Protein / Q000235:genetics; D009154:Mutation; D009522:Newcastle disease virus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D010802:Phylogeny; D014760:Viral Fusion Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D014774:Virulence / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D015707:HN Protein; D014760:Viral Fusion Proteins
keywords: Evolution; Molecular analyses; Newcastle disease virus; Virulence