Full-Genome Sequences and Phylogenetic Analysis of Archived Danish European Bat Lyssavirus 1 (EBLV-1) Emphasize a Higher Genetic Resolution and Spatial Segregation for Sublineage 1a.

Sten Calvelage,Denise A Marston,Stefan Finke,Lorraine Mcelhinney,Thomas Müller,Conrad M Freuling,Martin Beer,Anthony R Fooks,Thomas Bruun Rasmussen,Dirk Höper

doi:10.3390/v13040634

Sten Calvelage, Denise A Marston + Show 8 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/v13040634

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Abstract

European bat lyssavirus type 1 (EBLV-1) is the causative agent for almost all reported rabies cases found in European bats. In recent years, increasing numbers of available EBLV-1 full genomes and their phylogenetic analyses helped to further elucidate the distribution and genetic characteristics of EBLV-1 and its two subtypes, namely EBLV-1a and EBLV-1b. Nonetheless, the absence of full-genome sequences from regions with known detections of EBLV-1 still limit the understanding of the phylogeographic relations between viruses from different European regions. In this study, a set of 21 archived Danish EBLV-1 samples from the years 1985 to 2009 was processed for the acquisition of full-genome sequences using a high-throughput sequencing approach. Subsequent phylogenetic analysis encompassing all available EBLV-1 full genomes from databases revealed the Danish sequences belong to the EBLV-1a subtype and further highlighted the distinct, close phylogenetic relationship of Danish, Dutch and German isolates in this region. In addition, the formation of five putative groups nearly exclusively formed by Danish isolates and the overall increased resolution of the EBLV-1a branch indicate a higher genetic diversity and spatial segregation for this sublineage than was previously known. These results emphasize the importance of phylogenetic analyses of full-genome sequences of lyssaviruses for genetic geography.

Highlights

IntroductionBats (Chiroptera) are suggested to represent reservoirs for almost all current members of the lyssavirus genus [1,2], which constitutes of 17 recognized member species and 1 related, yet unclassified virus [3,4]
An alignment of the obtained 21 Danish genomes revealed a nucleotide sequence identity of 99.5 %. This high genetic homogeneity of the examined Danish virus genomes over a 24-year period is in accordance with previous findings of low substitution rates described for European bat lyssavirus type 1 (EBLV-1) [15,16]
With 19 out of 21 samples, the vast majority of the investigated Danish cases is constituted by samples of E. serotinus (Table 1), the main reservoir of EBLV-1 [9,10] giving further evidence for the high affiliation of EBLV-1 to this particular bat species

Summary

Introduction

Bats (Chiroptera) are suggested to represent reservoirs for almost all current members of the lyssavirus genus [1,2], which constitutes of 17 recognized member species and 1 related, yet unclassified virus [3,4]. In contrast to classical rabies virus (RABV) that has a global distribution, non-RABV lyssaviruses have a more limited geographic and host range distribution [5]. Lyssavirus infections of bats have been documented in many parts of the world, different virus species are present in different regions and infect particular species of bats that serve as reservoirs only [6]. Whereas RABV is only associated with bats in the Americas, the remaining lyssaviruses predominate in a species dependent manner across all other continents except Antarctica [7]

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