Evidence for inter- and intra-clade recombinations in rabies virus

Abstract

Homologous recombination is considered rare in negative-strand RNA viruses and has not been reported for rabies virus. In this study, full-length genomes of 44 rabies virus strains were analyzed for potential homologous recombination events. Phylogenetic analysis classified these strains into three clades. By applying six different recombination detection methods, one inter-clade and one intra-clade potential recombination events were identified with high confidence values. Software-predicted recombination break points of the two events were all located within the polymerase gene. This report presents the first evidence suggesting the possibility of homologous recombination in rabies virus, which could provide valuable insights for understanding the diversity and evolution of rabies virus as well as other negative-strand RNA viruses.