Genetic diversity of Chinese rabies viruses: evidence for the presence of two distinct clades in China.
There have been three major rabies epidemics in China since the 1950s. To gain more insights into the molecular epidemiology of rabies viruses (RVs) for the third (the current) epidemic, we isolated RV from dogs and humans in major endemic areas, and characterized these isolates genetically by sequencing the entire glycoprotein (G) gene and the G-L non-coding region. These sequences were also compared phylogenetically with RVs isolated in China during previous epidemics and those around the world. Comparison of the entire G genes among the Chinese isolates revealed up to 21.8% divergence at the nucleotide level and 17.8% at the amino acid level. The available Chinese isolates could be divided into two distinct clades, each of which could be further divided into six lineages. Viruses in clade I include most of the Chinese viruses as well as viruses from southeast Asian countries including Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. The viruses in the other clade were found infrequently in China, but are closely related to viruses distributed worldwide among terrestrial animals. Interestingly, most of the viruses isolated during the past 10 years belong to lineage A viruses within clade I whereas most of the viruses isolated before 1996 belong to other lineages within clades I and II. Our results indicated that lineages A viruses have been predominant during the past 10 years and thus are largely responsible for the third and the current epidemic in China. Our results also suggested that the Chinese RV isolates in clade I share a common recent ancestor with those circulating in southeast Asia.
Zhang
Yong-Zhen
YZ
Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China. yongzhenzhang@sohu.com
Xiong
Cheng-Long
CL
Lin
Xian-Dan
XD
Zhou
Dun-Jin
DJ
Jiang
Ren-Jie
RJ
Xiao
Qi-You
QY
Xie
Xin-Yao
XY
Yu
Xiang-Xiang
XX
Tan
You-Jiang
YJ
Li
Ming Hui
MH
Ai
Quan-Shan
QS
Zhang
Li-Jie
LJ
Zou
Yang
Y
Huang
Chun
C
Fu
Zhen F
ZF
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000956:Antigens, Viral / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D001921:Brain / Q000821:virology; D002681:China; D004285:Dogs; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006023:Glycoproteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D011818:Rabies / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology; D011820:Rabies virus / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D012463:Saliva / Q000821:virology; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000235:genetics
D000956:Antigens, Viral; D006023:Glycoproteins; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins; D014764:Viral Proteins; C064951:glycoprotein G, Rabies virus