Qianxin Lu,Huisha Du,Xin Jiang,Bingwen Zeng,Tianhui Li,Ying-Chun Dai
The GI.3 norovirus is the most detected and recombinant-rich genotype within genogroup I, yet the mechanistic basis for its epidemiological success remains poorly understood. This study integrates Bayesian evolutionary analysis with in vitro enzymology to investigate the link between RdRp function and the evolutionary dynamics of GI.3 NoV. We analyzed 831 GI.3 sequences, finding that prevalent strains (GI.3[P3] and GI.3[P13]) exhibited significantly higher evolutionary rates in both the RdRp and VP1 genes than non-prevalent strains (GI.3[P10] and GI.3[P14]). While the RdRp gene displayed a strong molecular clock signal, the VP1 gene’s evolution was more complex, showing cluster-specific trends. Functionally, the RdRps from prevalent strains demonstrated superior enzymatic activity and substrate affinity (Km: GI.3[P13] = 0.092 mM; GI.3[P3] = 0.176 mM) compared to non-prevalent strains (Km: GI.3[P14] = 0.273 mM). Notably, GI.3 RdRp required higher manganese ion concentrations for optimal activity than previously reported for GII strains, suggesting a potential biochemical constraint. Our findings demonstrate a clear correlation between RdRp enzymatic efficiency, evolutionary rate, and strain prevalence. We propose that a highly active RdRp may potentially accelerate VP1 evolution and confer a replicative advantage, underpinning the dominance of specific GI.3 lineages. This work provides crucial experimental evidence linking viral polymerase function to evolutionary and epidemiological outcomes.
Background Loaches of Cobitinae, widely distributed in Eurasian continent, have high economic, ornamental and scientific value. However, the phylogeny of Cobitinae fishes within genera or family level remains complex and controversial. Up to now, about 60 Cobitinae mitogenomes had been deposited in GenBank, but their integrated characteristics were not elaborated.Results In this study, we sequenced and analyzed the complete mitogenomes of a female Cobits macrostigma. Then we conducted a comparative mitogenome analysis and revealed the conserved and unique characteristics of 58 Cobitinae mitogenomes, including C. macrostigma. Cobitinae mitogenomes display highly conserved tRNA secondary structure, overlaps and non-coding intergenic spacers. In addition, distinct base compositions were observed among different genus and significantly negative linear correlation between AT% and AT-skew were found among Cobitinae, genus Cobitis and Pangio mitogenomes, respectively. A specific 3 bp insertion (GCA) in the atp8-atp6 overlap was identified as a unique feature of loaches, compared to other Cypriniformes fish. Additionally, all protein coding genes underwent a strong purifying selection. Phylogenetic analysis strongly supported the paraphyly of Cobitis and polyphyly of Misgurnus. The strict molecular clock predicted that Cobitinae might have split into northern and southern lineages in the late Eocene (42.11 Ma), furthermore, mtDNA introgression might occur (14.40 Ma) between ancestral species of Cobitis and ancestral species of Misgurnus.Conclusion sThe current study represents the first comparative mitogenomic and phylogenetic analyses within Cobitinae and provides new insights into the mitogenome features and evolution of fishes belonging to the cobitinae family.