Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 21, 2026

Molecular Evolution of the Tre Recombinase
Published on: May 29, 2008
Molecular Evolution of Classic Human Astrovirus, as Revealed by the Analysis of the Capsid Protein Gene
Nan Zhou1, Lu Zhou2, Bei Wang3
1Key Laboratory of Environmental Medicine and Engineering of Ministry of Education, Department of Epidemiology and Statistics, School of Public Health, Southeast University, Nanjing 210009, Jiangsu, China. sduzhounan@163.com.
Abstract:
Classic human astroviruses (HAstV) are major global viral agents for gastroenteritis, but the molecular characteristics of classic HAstVs are not well understood. Here, we presented the molecular evolution of all classic HAstV serotypes by the analysis of the capsid protein sequences. Our results show that classic HAstVs can be divided into four groups with the most recent common ancestor (TMRCA) of 749. The overall evolutionary rate of classic HAstVs on the capsid gene was 4.509×10-4 substitutions/site/year, and most of the serotypes present a clock-like evolution with an amino acid accumulation of mutations over time. The mean effective population size of classic HAstVs is in a downward trend, and some positive and more than 500 negative selection sites were determined. Taken together, these results reveal that classic HAstVs evolve at the intra-serotype level with high genetic heterogeneity and are driven by strong purifying selection. Long-term surveillance of classic HAstVs are needed to enrich the genomic data for further analysis.
More Related Videos
07:09A Bioinformatics Pipeline for Investigating Molecular Evolution and Gene Expression using RNA-seq
Published on: May 28, 2021
09:20Isolation of Next-Generation Gene Therapy Vectors through Engineering, Barcoding, and Screening of Adeno-Associated Virus AAV Capsid Variants
Published on: October 18, 2022
Related Concept Videos
Genome Size and the Evolution of New Genes
Genome Size and the Evolution of New Genes
The Evidence for Evolution
Gene Evolution - Fast or Slow?
In contrast, regions which code...
Gene Evolution - Fast or Slow?
Molecular Chaperones and Protein Folding
The...