Re-Emerged Genotype IV of Japanese Encephalitis Virus Is the Youngest Virus in Evolution.

An outbreak of viral encephalitis caused by a Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) genotype IV infection occurred in Australia between 2021 and 2022. A total of 47 cases and seven deaths were reported as of November 2022. This is the first outbreak of human viral encephalitis caused by JEV GIV since it was first isolated in Indonesia in the late 1970s. Here, a comprehensive phylogenetic analysis based on the whole genome sequences of JEVs revealed it emerged 1037 years ago (95% HPD: 463 to 2100 years). The evolutionary order of JEV genotypes is as follows: GV, GIII, GII, GI, and GIV. The JEV GIV emerged 122 years ago (95% HPD: 57-233) and is the youngest viral lineage. The mean substitution rate of the JEV GIV lineage was 1.145 × 10-3 (95% HPD values, 9.55 × 10-4, 1.35 × 10-3), belonging to rapidly evolving viruses. A series of amino acid mutations with the changes of physico-chemical properties located in the functional important domains within the core and E proteins distinguished emerging GIV isolates from old ones. These results demonstrate the JEV GIV is the youngest JEV genotype at a rapid evolution stage and has good host/vector adaptability for introduction to non-endemic areas. Thus, surveillance of JEVs is highly recommended.

Atomic Charge Calculation of Metallobiomolecules in Terms of the ABEEM Method.

Applying the atom-bond electronegativity equalization method (ABEEM) to metallobiomolecules, the ABEEM parameters for transition metals (V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, and Zn) were calibrated through linear regression and least-squares optimization by choosing more than 300 training molecules. The quality of the ABEEM charge calculated in terms of the optimized electronegativity and hardness parameters for the training set is assessed by comparison with B3LYP/6-31G* charges. For a check, the ABEEM charges of some large metallobiomolecules have been calculated, and the obtained results correlate quite well to those calculated with the B3LYP/6-31G* method. The linear correlation coefficients R are all over 0.98. This shows that the ABEEM method can predict the charge distributions of large metallobiomolecules with high accuracy.