Genotype turnover and global evolutionary dynamics of G gene duplication variants in human metapneumovirus: insights from prospective surveillance in Nantong, China, 2024–2025
The global dominance of 111nt_dup is better explained by lineage-specific molecular selection than neutral drift, and a model in which predicted glycosylation-driven optimization of the G protein mucin-like domain may enhance fitness, with implications for hMPV vaccine strain surveillance is suggested.