Molecular Epidemiology and Sequence Analysis of Rabies Virus Isolates from North and North East India

Abstract

In the present study phylogenetic analysis of 30 rabies virus (RV) isolates collected from North and North East India between 2013 and 2016 was carried out. Analysis of two sets of sequence of non-coding G-L intergenic region, based upon a 132-nucleotide region of the cytoplasmic domain (CD) of the G gene (G-CD) and a 549-nucleotide (Psi-L) was done. The phylogenetic tree constructed using 549 nucleotide sequence of hyper variable region (Psi-L) showed the same topology as that obtained on the basis of 132 nucleotide sequence of G-CD region. Four different genetic clusters (GCs) distributed among three geographical regions were identified. Comparison of deduced amino acid (aa) sequences showed four amino acid changes - aa462G, aa465H/R and aa468K in G-CD region. The change observed at position aa465R indicated the spillover of Indian wild strain (mongoose) to domestic animals in Delhi region. The homology among the Indian RV isolates shared >97% nucleotide similarity irrespective of their geographical regions and hosts. The study revealed that the RV isolates are region specific, not host specific and all belonged to genotype 1.