title: Arctic and Arctic-like rabies viruses: distribution, phylogeny and evolutionary history.
abstract: Forty-one newly sequenced isolates of Arctic and Arctic-like rabies viruses, were genetically compared to each other and to those available from GenBank. Four phylogenetic lineages of Arctic viruses were identified. Arctic-1 viruses circulate in Ontario, Arctic-2 viruses circulate in Siberia and Alaska, Arctic-3 viruses circulate circumpolarly, and a newly described lineage Arctic-4 circulates locally in Alaska. The oldest available isolates from Siberia (between 1950 and 1960) belong to the Arctic-2 and Arctic-3 lineages and share 98.6-99.2% N gene identity with contemporary viruses. Two lineages of Arctic-like viruses were identified in southern Asia and the Middle East (Arctic-like-1) and eastern Asia (Arctic-like-2). A time-scaled tree demonstrates that the time of the most recent common ancestor (TMRCA) of Arctic and Arctic-like viruses is dated between 1255 and 1786. Evolution of the Arctic viruses has occurred through a northerly spread. The Arctic-like-2 lineage diverged first, whereas Arctic viruses share a TMRCA with Arctic-like-1 viruses.
authors.affiliation: Rabies Program, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA 30333, USA. ibk3@cdc.gov
authors.forename: I V
authors.initials: IV
authors.lastname: Kuzmin
authors.forename: G J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Hughes
authors.forename: A D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Botvinkin
authors.forename: S G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Gribencha
authors.forename: C E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Rupprecht
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000835:Animals, Wild / Q000821:virology; D001110:Arctic Regions / Q000453:epidemiology; D004197:Disease Reservoirs; D018562:Disease Transmission, Infectious; D005843:Geography; D006801:Humans; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology; D010802:Phylogeny; D012313:RNA / Q000032:analysis; D011818:Rabies / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000635:transmission / Q000821:virology*; D011820:Rabies virus / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification
chemical_list: D012313:RNA