Abstract
The nucleoprotein (N), phosphoprotein (P) and glycoprotein (G) genes of Irkut and West Caucasian bat viruses (WCBV) were sequenced and compared with those of other lyssaviruses. N gene nucleotide identities provided unequivocal separation of all lyssavirus genotypes with an identity threshold of 82%. On this basis, Irkut virus should be considered as a new genotype with particular relatedness to genotypes 4 and 5 (78.0-78.6% identity for N gene nucleotides and 90.4-92.6% for amino acids). Furthermore, genotypes 4-6, together with Aravan, Khujand and Irkut viruses, present a solid phylogroup of Old World bat lyssaviruses. This relationship is apparent using all three viral genes, and causes overlap between intragenotype and intergenotype identities for the P gene (Aravan, Khujand viruses and genotype 6) and for the G gene (Aravan, Khujand, genotypes 5 and 6). WCBV is the most divergent of known lyssaviruses with only limited relatedness to genotypes 2 and 3.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 28-43 |
| Number of pages | 16 |
| Journal | Virus Research |
| Volume | 111 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Jul 2005 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:We are grateful to Drs. T. Mebatsion and J.H. Cox, (Federal Institute for Animal Viral Diseases, Tubingen, Germany) for the N gene sequences of LBV and MOKV viruses originating from Ethiopia. We thank J.S. Smith (CDC, Atlanta, GA, USA) for valuable discussions during the study. IVK was supported by the Russian Foundation of Basic Research (grant 00-04-48004) and Association of Public Health Laboratories, international fellowship program of 2002–2003. GJH was funded by an ASM/NCID post-doctoral fellowship.
Keywords
- Bat
- Chiroptera
- Genotype
- Lyssavirus
- Phylogeny
- Rabies
- Rhabdovirus
