title: Coinfection with two closely related alphaherpesviruses results in a highly diversified recombination mosaic displaying negative genetic interference.
abstract: Phylogenetic studies of the emergence and spread of natural recombinants in herpesviruses infecting humans and animals have been reported recently. However, despite an ever-increasing amount of evidence of recombination in herpesvirus history, the recombination process and the consequences on the genetic diversity of the progeny remain poorly characterized. We addressed this issue by using multiple single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) differentiating the two subtypes of an alphaherpesvirus, bovine herpesvirus 1 (BoHV-1). Analysis of a large sample of progeny virions obtained in a single growth cycle of coinfected BoHV-1 strains provided a prospective investigation of the recombination dynamics by using SNPs as recombination markers. We found that the simultaneous infection with two closely related herpesviruses results in a highly diversified recombination mosaic. From the analysis of multiple recombinants arising in the progeny, we provide the first evidence of genetic interference influencing the recombination process in herpesviruses. In addition, we report striking differences in the levels of recombination frequency observed along the BoHV-1 genome. With particular emphasis on the genetic structure of a progeny virus population rising in vitro, our data show to which extent recombination participates to the genetic diversification of herpesviruses.
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, Virology and Immunology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Liège, B-4000 Liège, Belgium.
authors.forename: Benoît
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Muylkens
authors.forename: Frédéric
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Farnir
authors.forename: François
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Meurens
authors.forename: Frédéric
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Schynts
authors.forename: Alain
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vanderplasschen
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Georges
authors.forename: Etienne
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Thiry
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D002460:Cell Line; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D005819:Genetic Markers; D005838:Genotype; D006566:Herpesviridae Infections / Q000821:virology*; D007242:Herpesvirus 1, Bovine / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D011995:Recombination, Genetic; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D014762:Viral Interference
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral; D005819:Genetic Markers