Vector switch |
Change of main arthropod vector by a virus acquiring the ability to circulate in natural populations of the new vector for a long time |
Quantum shift |
Drastic shift to the new adaptive zone with a rapid change in the genetic and phenotypic characteristics accompanied by the nonlinear accumulation of mutations |
Quantum evolution |
Step-like pattern of evolution comprising rapid genetic and phenotypic changes followed by long periods when the species evolves very little |
Clusteron |
A group of TBEV strains with identical amino acid sequences of the E glycoprotein fragment, as a rule phylogeographically close, and having a certain type of territorial distribution |
Clusteron structure |
Quantitative and qualitative composition of clusterons, visualized as a phylogenetic network |
Clusteron-founder |
The greatest (in number of strains) clusteron with maximum fitness |
Clusteron-derivatives |
Clusterons differing from the “clusteron-founder” by one or several amino acid substitutions |
Transition point |
An amino acid sequence containing deleterious mutations that are normally purged from the virus population |