Phylogenetic relationships of Irkut and West Caucasian bat viruses within the Lyssavirus genus and suggested quantitative criteria based on the N gene sequence for lyssavirus genotype definition

• Published in: Virus research Vol. 111; no. 1; pp. 28 - 43
• Main Authors: Kuzmin, Ivan V., Hughes, Gareth J., Botvinkin, Alexandr D., Orciari, Lillian A., Rupprecht, Charles E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 01.07.2005
• Subjects: Amino Acid Sequence; Animals; Bat; Chiroptera; Chiroptera - virology; Genotype; Glycoproteins - chemistry; Glycoproteins - genetics; Lyssavirus; Lyssavirus - classification; Lyssavirus - genetics; Lyssavirus - immunology; Lyssavirus - isolation & purification; Molecular Sequence Data; Nucleoproteins - chemistry; Nucleoproteins - genetics; Phylogeny; Rabies; Rhabdovirus; Sequence Analysis, DNA; Bat; Rabies; Lyssavirus; Genotype; Rhabdovirus; Phylogeny; Chiroptera
• ISSN: 0168-1702; 1872-7492
• DOI: 10.1016/j.virusres.2005.03.008

The nucleoprotein (N), phosphoprotein (P) and glycoprotein (G) genes of Irkut and West Caucasian bat viruses (WCBV) were sequenced and compared with those of other lyssaviruses. N gene nucleotide identities provided unequivocal separation of all lyssavirus genotypes with an identity threshold of 82%. On this basis, Irkut virus should be considered as a new genotype with particular relatedness to genotypes 4 and 5 (78.0–78.6% identity for N gene nucleotides and 90.4–92.6% for amino acids). Furthermore, genotypes 4–6, together with Aravan, Khujand and Irkut viruses, present a solid phylogroup of Old World bat lyssaviruses. This relationship is apparent using all three viral genes, and causes overlap between intragenotype and intergenotype identities for the P gene (Aravan, Khujand viruses and genotype 6) and for the G gene (Aravan, Khujand, genotypes 5 and 6). WCBV is the most divergent of known lyssaviruses with only limited relatedness to genotypes 2 and 3.