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Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Phylodynamic analysis of the historical spread of Toscana virus around the Mediterranean
AU - Cusi, Maria Grazia
AU - Gandolfo, Claudia
AU - Gori Savellini, Gianni
AU - Terrosi, Chiara
AU - Sadler, Rebecca
AU - Gatherer, Derek
PY - 2018/7/30
Y1 - 2018/7/30
N2 - All available sequences of the three genome segments of Toscana virus with date and location of sampling were analysed using Bayesian phylodynamic methods. We estimate that extant Toscana virus strains had a common ancestor in the late 16th to early 17th century AD, in territories controlled by the Ottoman Empire, giving rise to an ancestral genotype A/B in north Africa and to genotype C in the Balkans. Subsequent spread into western Europe may have occurred during the period of European colonization of north Africa in the 19th and early 20th centuries AD, establishing genotypes A and B in Italy and Spain respectively. Very little positive evolutionary selection pressure is detectable in Toscana virus, suggesting that the virus has become well adapted to its human hosts. There is also no convincing evidence of reassortment between genome segments, despite genotypes A and B now co-circulating in several countries.
AB - All available sequences of the three genome segments of Toscana virus with date and location of sampling were analysed using Bayesian phylodynamic methods. We estimate that extant Toscana virus strains had a common ancestor in the late 16th to early 17th century AD, in territories controlled by the Ottoman Empire, giving rise to an ancestral genotype A/B in north Africa and to genotype C in the Balkans. Subsequent spread into western Europe may have occurred during the period of European colonization of north Africa in the 19th and early 20th centuries AD, establishing genotypes A and B in Italy and Spain respectively. Very little positive evolutionary selection pressure is detectable in Toscana virus, suggesting that the virus has become well adapted to its human hosts. There is also no convincing evidence of reassortment between genome segments, despite genotypes A and B now co-circulating in several countries.
KW - Toscana virus
KW - Sandfly fever Naples phlebovirus
KW - SFNV
KW - Phlebovirus
KW - Phenuiviridae
KW - phylodynamics
KW - Bayesian phylogenetics
KW - phylogenetics
KW - Bunyavirales
U2 - 10.1101/380477
DO - 10.1101/380477
M3 - Journal article
JO - Biorxiv
JF - Biorxiv
ER -