[Influence of host-effect on strain variability of tick-borne encephalitis virus]

The organism of arthropods and warm-blooded vertebrates as a habitat of a virus determines the population genetic structure of tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) virus strains. The pattern of hybridization by variable zones of TBE genomes gradually changes in the course of intracerebral passages of the virus in newborn white mice. During intracelomal passages in Ixodidae hybridization alters as early as during the first passage, both for variable and (in individual cases) conservative zones. Ixodid ticks should be regarded as a mechanism maintaining the heterogeneity of virus communities (strains and populations). Vertebrates and communities of dugout arthropods appear to be the mechanism reducing the effect of ecologic isolation of TBE strains.