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Recombination between G2 and G6 strains of rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV) in China

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Abstract

Rabbit hemorrhagic disease (RHD) is an acute fatal disease caused by the lagovirus rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV), which was first reported in 1984 in China. Genetic characterization of RHDV has demonstrated that two different genogroups (G2 and G6) are present in China. To gain a better understanding of the molecular evolution of RHDV, we searched for recombination events by analyzing all full-length RHDV capsid VP60 sequences of Chinese isolates belonging to the genogroups 2 and 6. Our results revealed a recombinant origin for the NanBu/China/2011 isolate. This recombination event occurred between G2 and G6 strains with two breakpoints located at nucleotide positions 393 and 1079 of the VP60 sequence. Phylogenetically, the NanBu/China/2011 strain clustered with genogroup G6 in the entire capsid gene sequence except in the fragment between nucleotides 394 and 1078, where it clustered with genogroup G2. As the consequences of the presence of a G2/G6 recombinant strain in China are unpredictable, the circulation of RHDV in the populations should be carefully monitored.

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Acknowledgments

The project was supported by the Earmarked Fund for China Agriculture Research System (No. [CARS-44]) and the National Natural Sciences Foundation of China (No. 31502073).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Veterinary Medicine, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Key Laboratory of Veterinary Biologicals Engineering and Technology, Ministry of Agriculture, National Center for Engineering Research of Veterinary Bio-products, Nanjing, 210014, China

    Bo Hu, Fang Wang, Zhiyu Fan, Yanhua Song & Yuanyuan Zuo

  2. Jiangsu Co-innovation Center for Prevention and Control of Important Animal Infectious Diseases and Zoonoses, Yangzhou, 225009, China

    Bo Hu, Fang Wang, Zhiyu Fan & Yanhua Song

  3. Key Laboratory of Animal Diseases Diagnostic and Immunology, College of Veterinary Medicine of Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, China

    Bo Hu & Yuanyuan Zuo

  4. CIBIO, InBIO-Research Network in Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, Universidade do Porto, Campus de Vairão, Rua Padre Armando Quintas, 4485-661, Vairão, Portugal

    Joana Abrantes & Pedro J. Esteves

  5. Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, s/n, 4169-007, Porto, Portugal

    Pedro J. Esteves

  6. Instituto de Investigação e Formação Avançada em Ciências e Tecnologias da Saúde (CESPU), Gandra, Portugal

    Pedro J. Esteves

Authors
  1. Bo Hu
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  2. Fang Wang
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  3. Zhiyu Fan
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  4. Yanhua Song
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  5. Joana Abrantes
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  6. Yuanyuan Zuo
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  7. Pedro J. Esteves
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fang Wang.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Hu, B., Wang, F., Fan, Z. et al. Recombination between G2 and G6 strains of rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV) in China. Arch Virol 162, 269–272 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-016-3082-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-016-3082-6

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