Analysis of the codon usage pattern of the RdRP gene of mycovirus infecting Aspergillus spp.

BACKGROUND: Mycoviruses that infect fungi generally do not have a significant effect on the host and, instead, reduce the toxicity of the fungi. However, recent studies have shown that polymycovirus-1, a mycovirus that infects Aspergillus species known to cause disease in humans, is related to increased virulence of the fungus. METHODS: Comparative analysis was performed of RdRP gene codon usage patterns of Aspergillus fumigatus polymycovirus-1 (AfuPmV-1) and other mycoviruses known to infect Aspergillus spp. to examine the genetic characteristics of AfuPmV-1. In addition, codon usage analysis was performed to determine whether the nucleotide composition and codon usage characteristics of AfuPmV-1 were also present in other polymycoviruses and hypervirulence-related mycoviruses. Phylogenetic analysis was also performed to investigate their evolutionary relationship. RESULTS: Analysis of nucleotide composition indicated that AfuPmV-1 had the highest GC content among analyzed mycoviruses and relative synonymous codon usage analysis indicated that all of the codons preferred by AfuPmV-1 ended with C or G, while codons ending with A or U were not observed. Moreover, the effective number of codons, the codon adaptation index, and correspondence analysis showed that AfuPmV-1 had greater codon preference compared with other mycoviruses and that AfuPmV-1 had relatively high adaptability to humans and fungi. These results were generally similar among polymycoviruses. CONCLUSIONS: The codon usage pattern of AfuPmV-1 differs from other mycoviruses that infect Aspergillus spp. This difference may be related to the hypervirulence effect of AfuPmV-1. Analysis of AfuPmV-1 codon usage patterns could contribute to the identification and prediction of virulence effects of mycoviruses with similar genetic characteristics.

Correlations Between the Incidence of National Notifiable Infectious Diseases and Public Open Data, Including Meteorological Factors and Medical Facility Resources.

OBJECTIVES: This study was performed to investigate the relationship between the incidence of national notifiable infectious diseases (NNIDs) and meteorological factors, air pollution levels, and hospital resources in Korea. METHODS: We collected and stored 660,000 pieces of publicly available data associated with infectious diseases from public data portals and the Diseases Web Statistics System of Korea. We analyzed correlations between the monthly incidence of these diseases and monthly average temperatures and monthly average relative humidity, as well as vaccination rates, number of hospitals, and number of hospital beds by district in Seoul. RESULTS: Of the 34 NNIDs, malaria showed the most significant correlation with temperature (r=0.949, p<0.01) and concentration of nitrogen dioxide (r=-0.884, p<0.01). We also found a strong correlation between the incidence of NNIDs and the number of hospital beds in 25 districts in Seoul (r=0.606, p<0.01). In particular, Geumcheon-gu was found to have the lowest incidence rate of NNIDs and the highest number of hospital beds per patient. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, we conducted a correlational analysis of public data from Korean government portals that can be used as parameters to forecast the spread of outbreaks.