title: Evolution of Bovine herpesvirus 4: recombination and transmission between African buffalo and cattle.
abstract: Bovine herpesvirus 4 (BoHV-4) has been isolated from cattle throughout the world, but virological and serological studies have suggested that the African buffalo is also a natural host for this virus. It has previously been found that the Bo17 gene of BoHV-4 was acquired from an ancestor of the African buffalo, probably around 1.5 million years ago. Analysis of the variation of the Bo17 gene sequence among BoHV-4 strains suggested a relatively ancient transmission of BoHV-4 from the buffalo to the Bos primigenius lineage, followed by a host-dependent split between zebu and taurine BoHV-4 strains. In the present study, the evolutionary history of BoHV-4 was investigated by analysis of five gene sequences from each of nine strains representative of the viral species: three isolated from African buffalo in Kenya and six from cattle from Europe, North America and India. No two gene sequences had the same evolutionary tree, indicating that recombination has occurred between divergent lineages; six recombination events were delineated for these sequences. Nevertheless, exchange has been infrequent enough that a clonal evolutionary history of the strains could be discerned, upon which the recombination events were superimposed. The dates of divergence among BoHV-4 lineages were estimated from synonymous nucleotide-substitution rates. The inferred evolutionary history suggests that African buffalo were the original natural reservoir of BoHV-4 and that there have been at least three independent transmissions from buffalo to cattle, probably via intermediate hosts and--at least in the case of North American strains--within the last 500 years.
authors.affiliation: Immunology-Vaccinology (B43b), Department of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Liège, B-4000 Liège, Belgium.
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Dewals
authors.affiliation: Immunology-Vaccinology (B43b), Department of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Liège, B-4000 Liège, Belgium.
authors.forename: Muriel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Thirion
authors.affiliation: Immunology-Vaccinology (B43b), Department of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Liège, B-4000 Liège, Belgium.
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Markine-Goriaynoff
authors.affiliation: Immunology-Vaccinology (B43b), Department of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Liège, B-4000 Liège, Belgium.
authors.forename: Laurent
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gillet
authors.affiliation: Immunology-Vaccinology (B43b), Department of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Liège, B-4000 Liège, Belgium.
authors.forename: Katalin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: de Fays
authors.affiliation: Immunology-Vaccinology (B43b), Department of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Liège, B-4000 Liège, Belgium.
authors.forename: Frédéric
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Minner
authors.affiliation: Immunology-Vaccinology (B43b), Department of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Liège, B-4000 Liège, Belgium.
authors.forename: Virginie
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Daix
authors.affiliation: Institute of Genetics, University of Nottingham, Queens Medical Centre, Nottingham NG7 2UH, UK.
authors.forename: Paul M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Sharp
authors.affiliation: Immunology-Vaccinology (B43b), Department of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Liège, B-4000 Liège, Belgium.
authors.forename: Alain
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vanderplasschen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002020:Buffaloes / Q000821:virology*; D002417:Cattle; D002418:Cattle Diseases / Q000635:transmission* / Q000821:virology*; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006566:Herpesviridae Infections / Q000635:transmission / Q000662:veterinary / Q000821:virology; D026021:Herpesvirus 4, Bovine / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D011995:Recombination, Genetic; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D014412:Tumor Virus Infections / Q000635:transmission / Q000662:veterinary / Q000821:virology
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral