New insights into the genetics of EBLV-1 from Germany.
Previous epidemiological studies on EBLVs indicated a distinct geographical distribution of EBLV-1 in Germany. In this study, 48 isolates were selected to further investigate the spatial and temporal distribution of EBLV-1 variants in Germany. The nucleoprotein-gene (N), the nucleoprotein-phosphoprotein spanning untranslated region (NP-UTR) and the UTR between G- and L-gene of each isolate were sequenced using direct cycle sequencing. Results of the subsequent phylogenetic analysis of the N-gene confirmed previous studies on EBLVs, showing a high sequence identity among German EBLV-1a isolates, and a correlation between genetic and temporal and spatial distance, respectively, was shown. Our results indicate that the GL-UTR is not suitable for phylogenetic analyses. Interestingly, 6 nt insertions in two isolates as well as a single nucleotide insertion in a different isolate were detected in the N-P UTR. Within the UTR between G- and L-gene one isolate showed a 35 nt deletion. The effect of those changes on viral properties remains elusive as such mutations have not been described for lyssaviruses before.
Institute of Epidemiology, WHO Collaborating Centre for Rabies Surveillance and Research, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Federal Research Institute of Animal Health, Wusterhausen, Germany. conrad.freuling@fli.bund.de
Conrad M
CM
Freuling
Bernd
B
Hoffmann
Thomas
T
Selhorst
Franz J
FJ
Conraths
Jeanette
J
Kliemt
Juliane
J
Schatz
Thomas
T
Müller
D005858:Germany; D018114:Lyssavirus / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009698:Nucleoproteins / Q000235:genetics; D010802:Phylogeny; D016415:Sequence Alignment
D009698:Nucleoproteins