Echoviruses belong to the genus Enterovirus in the Picornaviridae family, forming a large group of Enterovirus B (EV-B) within the Enteroviruses. Previously, Echoviruses were classified based on the coding sequence of VP1. In this study, we performed a reliable phylogenetic classification of 277 sequences isolated from 1992 to 2019 based on the full-length genomes of Echovirus. In this report, phylogenetic, phylogeographic, recombination, and amino acid variability landscape analyses were performed to reveal the evolutional characteristics of Echovirus worldwide. Echoviruses were clustered into nine major clades, e.g., G1–G9. Phylogeographic analysis showed that branches G2–G9 were linked to common strains, while the branch G1 was only linked to G5. In contrast, strains E12, E14, and E16 clustered separately from their G3 and G7 clades respectively, and became a separate branch. In addition, we identified a total of 93 recombination events, where most of the events occurred within the VP1-VP4 coding regions. Analysis of amino acid variation showed high variability in the a positions of VP2, VP1, and VP3. This study updates the phylogenetic and phylogeographic information of Echovirus and indicates that extensive recombination and significant amino acid variation in the capsid proteins drove the emergence of new strains.

艾可病毒属于小核糖核酸病毒科的肠道病毒属，在肠道病毒中形成一大群肠道病毒 B (EV-B)。此前，埃可病毒是根据 VP1 的编码序列进行分类的。在这项研究中，我们根据埃可病毒的全长基因组，对 1992 年至 2019 年分离的 277 个序列进行了可靠的系统发育分类。在本报告中，进行了系统发育、系统发育地理学、重组和氨基酸变异景观分析，以揭示世界范围内埃可病毒的进化特征。艾可病毒分为九个主要分支，例如G1-G9。系统发育地理学分析表明，分支G2-G9与常见菌株相关，而分支G1仅与G5相关。相比之下，菌株E12、E14和E16分别从它们的G3和G7进化枝中分离出来，并成为一个单独的分支。此外，我们总共鉴定了 93 个重组事件，其中大多数事件发生在 VP1-VP4 编码区内。氨基酸变异分析显示 VP2、VP1 和 VP3 的 a 位置存在高度变异性。这项研究更新了埃可病毒的系统发育和系统发育地理学信息，并表明衣壳蛋白中的广泛重组和显着的氨基酸变异推动了新毒株的出现。