The genetic drift of human papillomavirus type 16 is a means of reconstructing prehistoric viral spread and the movement of ancient human populations.

摘要: We have investigated the diversity of a hypervariable segment human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV-16) genome among 301 virus isolates that were collected from 25 different ethnic groups and geographic locations. Altogether, we distinguished 48 variants had diversified one another along five phylogenetic branches. Variants two these branches nearly completely confined to Africa. third branch only identified in Europeans but occurred at lower frequency all other groups. A fourth was specific for Japanese Chinese isolates. small fraction Asia indigenous as well immigrant populations Americas formed fifth branch. Important patterns HPV-16 phylogeny suggested coevolution with people three major races, namely, Africans, Caucasians, East Asians. But several minor are indicative smaller bottlenecks viral evolution spread, which may correlate migration prehistoric times. The colonization by Africans is reflected composition their variants. discuss arguments today's genomes represent degree evolved over large time span, probably exceeding 200,000 years, precursor originated identification molecular powerful epidemiological tool revealing ancient spread papillomaviruses, whose trace through world has not yet been lost.