Genome-scale phylodynamics and evolution analysis of global H7N7 influenza viruses

• We detected four reassortments between four distinct groups of viruses divided by HA gene.
• The molecular clock estimated that H7N7 virus evolved at a slower evolutionary rate ranged from 1.03E-03 to 2.81E-03subs/site/year.
• A total of 11 positively selected sites were detected by at least two out of three methods.
• We reconstructedH7N7 is a subtype of Influenza A the population dynamics of global H7N7 virus spanning over a century;.
• We confirmed several migration events between different geographic locations supported by higher values of Bayes factor.
• The diffusion patterns of H7N7 viruses reveal that the virus is more likely to evolve to expand their host ranges even cross the species.

Previous studies lacked of comprehensive analysis about the evolutionary history and phylogeography of global H7N7 viruses. In this study, it is essential to undertake a genome-scale analysis to investigate the evolutionary processes in a global perspective. There was local phylogenetic divergence among eight trees based on individual segments of 132 strains. We detected four reassortments between four distinct groups of viruses divided by HA gene, suggesting intrasubtype reassortment could accelerate the emergence of highly pathogenic virus. The molecular clock estimated that H7N7 virus evolved at a slower evolutionary rate ranged from 1.03E-03 to 2.81E-03subs/site/year. And we also showed that all gene segments of the virus were under strong purifying selection. A total of 11 positively selected sites were detected by at least two out of three methods. We reconstructed the population dynamics of global H7N7 viruses spanning over a century, revealing that temporal trends of the effective population size were consistent with the major epidemics previously reported. Our study adopt a Bayesian phylogeographic approach to investigate the geographic spread of H7N7 viruses, which combined with temporal and spatial information of all sequences. We have confirmed several migration events between different geographic locations supported by higher values of Bayes factor. The diffusion patterns of H7N7 viruses reveal that the virus is more likely to evolve to expand their host ranges even cross the species.