title: Evolution of rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV) in the European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) from the Iberian Peninsula.
abstract: To date information on rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV) in Spain and Portugal has been scarce, although the disease is endemic and continues to have a considerable impact on species conservation and hunting industry. We analysed RHDVs obtained between 1994 and 2007 at different geographic locations in Portugal (40 samples), Spain (3 samples) and France (4 samples) from wild European rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) that succumbed to the disease. Phylogenetic analyses based on partial VP60 gene sequences allowed a grouping of these RHDVs into three groups, termed "Iberian" Groups IB1, IB2 and IB3. Interestingly, these three Iberian groups clustered separately, though not far from earlier RHDVs of Genogroup 1 (containing e.g., strain "AST89"), but clearly distinct from globally described RHDV strains of Genogroups 2-6. This result, supported by a bootstrap value of 76%, gives rise to the hypothesis that the virus evolved independently since its introduction to wild rabbit populations on the Iberian Peninsula, with the Pyrenees acting as a natural barrier to rabbit and hence to virus dispersal. No differences were observed in RHDV sequences obtained from geographic regions where the rabbit subspecies O. c. algirus prevails compared with those obtained from O. c. cuniculus.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Clinics, Institute of Biomedical Science Abel Salazar (ICBAS), University of Porto, P-4099-003 Porto, Portugal. amuller@mail.icav.up.pt
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Muller
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Freitas
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Le Gall-Reculé
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zwingelstein
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Abrantes
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Esteves
authors.forename: P C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Alves
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: van der Loo
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kolodziejek
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nowotny
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Thompson
mesh_terms: D019943:Amino Acid Substitution; D000818:Animals; D017250:Caliciviridae Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000235:genetics; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005602:France; D017929:Hemorrhagic Disease Virus, Rabbit / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D008099:Liver / Q000821:virology; D010802:Phylogeny; D011174:Portugal / Q000453:epidemiology; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D011817:Rabbits / Q000821:virology*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D018076:DNA, Complementary; D012367:RNA, Viral; D014764:Viral Proteins