Emergence and Potential Extinction of Genetic Lineages of Human Metapneumovirus between 2005 and 2021
Kevin Groen, Stefan van Nieuwkoop, Adam Meijer, Bas van der Veer, Jeroen J. A. van Kampen, Pieter L. A. Fraaij, Ron A. M. Fouchier, Bernadette van den Hoogen
Abstract
Human metapneumovirus (HMPV) is one of the major causative agents of human respiratory tract infections. Monitoring of virus evolution could aid toward the development of new antiviral treatments or vaccine designs. Here, we studied HMPV evolution between 2005 and 2021, with viruses obtained from samples collected from hospitalized individuals and patients with respiratory infections consulting general practitioners. Phylogenetic analyses demonstrated that HMPV continued to group in the four previously described sublineages (A1, A2, B1, and B2). However, one sublineage (A1) was no longer detected after 2006, while the others continued to evolve. No differences were observed in dominant (sub)lineages between patients being hospitalized and those consulting general practitioners. In both populations, viruses of lineage A2 carrying a 180-nucleotide or 111-nucleotide duplication in the attachment protein gene became the most frequently detected genotypes. These data were used to propose criteria for the designation of new genetic lineages to aid toward a systematic HMPV classification.