Open AccessAnalysis of molecular evolution of nucleocapsid protein in Newcastle disease virus
Author(s) -
Wentao Fan,
Yuliang Xu,
Pu Zhang,
Peng Chen,
Yiran Zhu,
Ziqiang Cheng,
Xiaona Zhao,
Yongxia Liu,
Jianzhu Liu
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
oncotarget
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.373
H-Index - 127
ISSN - 1949-2553
DOI - 10.18632/oncotarget.21373
Subject(s) - markov chain monte carlo , population , biology , veterinary medicine , virology , demography , medicine , bayesian probability , statistics , mathematics , sociology
The present study investigated the molecular evolution of nucleocapsid protein (NP) in different Newcastle disease virus (NDV) genotypes. The evolutionary timescale and rate were estimated using the Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method. The p-distance, Bayesian skyline plot (BSP), and positively selected sites were also analyzed. The MCMC tree indicated that NDV diverged about 250 years ago with a rapid evolution rate (1.059 × 10 -2 substitutions/site/year) and that different NDV genotypes formed three lineages. The p-distance results reflected the great genetic diversity of NDV. BSP analysis suggested that the effective population size of NDV has been increasing since 2000 and that the basic reproductive number (R 0 ) of NDV ranged from 1.003 to 1.006. The abundance of negatively selected sites in the NP and the mean dN/dS value of 0.07 indicated that the NP of NDV may have undergone purifying selection. However, the predicted positively selected site at position 370 was located in the known effective epitopic region of the NP. In conclusion, although NDV evolved at a high rate and showed great genetic diversity, the structure and function of the NP had been well conserved. However, R 0 >1 suggests that NDV might have been causing an epidemic since the time of radiation.