UNIFICATION OF THE MOLECULAR EPIDEMIOLOGICAL RESEARCH OF THE TICK-BORNE ENCEPHALITIS

Molecular genetic techniques and approaches in epidemiological studies were breakthrough in the understanding of the laws, ways, and mechanisms of the spread of the pathogens. However, lack of standard methods makes it difficult to compare results obtained by different scientific groups. In this work we propose to choose one fragment of the TBEV genome as a genetic marker whose sequencing would be both obligatory and sufficient for the molecular epidemiological studies. The best candidate for this purpose may be a fragment of the gene E of 454 nucleotides in length. The deduced amino acid sequence of this fragment was a basis for a new approach for the TBEV differentiation with clusteron being a structural unit (Kovalev and Mukhacheva, 2013). The clusteron approach was proved to be informative for studying the genetic structure of the TBEV-Sib population in the Middle Urals. TBE foci were shown to be unique in both quantitative and qualitative composition of the clusterons. The greatest clusteron diversity in the south of the Middle Urals, through the Trans-Siberian way, may reflect the history of the colonization, closely associated with the roads between Siberia and the European part of Russia. The age of three clusterons did not exceed 50 years, which may indicate an ongoing evolutionary process taking place in the TBEV-Sib populations. In turn, their spatial distribution indicates the crucial role of human factors in the spread of the TBEV (Kovalev & Mukhacheva, 2014). The clusteron approach provides formalization of ideas about the structure of the viral populations and could be used not only by researchers but also by epidemiological surveillance services. Unification of the studies of the TBEV on the basis of a standard genetic marker would consolidate the efforts of researchers from different regions of Russia and other countries.