title: Phylogenetic relationships of Irkut and West Caucasian bat viruses within the Lyssavirus genus and suggested quantitative criteria based on the N gene sequence for lyssavirus genotype definition.
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.
authors.affiliation: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Cliffton Road, Atlanta, GA 30333, USA. ibk3@cdc.gov
authors.forename: Ivan V
authors.initials: IV
authors.lastname: Kuzmin
authors.forename: Gareth J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Hughes
authors.forename: Alexandr D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Botvinkin
authors.forename: Lillian A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Orciari
authors.forename: Charles E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Rupprecht
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D002685:Chiroptera / Q000821:virology*; D005838:Genotype; D006023:Glycoproteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D018114:Lyssavirus / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009698:Nucleoproteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D010802:Phylogeny; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D006023:Glycoproteins; D009698:Nucleoproteins