Molecular epidemiology and evolutionary dynamics of Echovirus 3 serotype

Phylogenetic analysis of the complete VP1 genomic region of that E3 strain and of those available in GenBank suggested three main genogroups that were further subdivided into seven subgenogroups. Further evolutionary analysis suggested that VP1 genomic region of E3 was dominated by purifying selection, as the vast majority of genetic diversity presumably occurred through synonymous nucleotide substitutions and the substitution rate for complete and partial VP1 sequences was calculated to be 8.13 × 10−3 and 7.72 × 10−3 substitutions/site/year respectively. The partial VP1 sequence analysis revealed the composite epidemiology of this serotype, as the strains of the three genogroups presented different epidemiological characteristics.