Muller A, Freitas J, Silva E, Le Gall-Reculé G, Zwingelstein F, Abrantes J, Esteves P J, Alves P C, van der Loo W, Kolodziejek J, Nowotny N, Thompson G
Department of Veterinary Clinics, Institute of Biomedical Science Abel Salazar (ICBAS), University of Porto, P-4099-003 Porto, Portugal.
Vet Microbiol. 2009 Mar 30;135(3-4):368-73. doi: 10.1016/j.vetmic.2008.09.057. Epub 2008 Sep 21.
To date information on rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV) in Spain and Portugal has been scarce, although the disease is endemic and continues to have a considerable impact on species conservation and hunting industry. We analysed RHDVs obtained between 1994 and 2007 at different geographic locations in Portugal (40 samples), Spain (3 samples) and France (4 samples) from wild European rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) that succumbed to the disease. Phylogenetic analyses based on partial VP60 gene sequences allowed a grouping of these RHDVs into three groups, termed "Iberian" Groups IB1, IB2 and IB3. Interestingly, these three Iberian groups clustered separately, though not far from earlier RHDVs of Genogroup 1 (containing e.g., strain "AST89"), but clearly distinct from globally described RHDV strains of Genogroups 2-6. This result, supported by a bootstrap value of 76%, gives rise to the hypothesis that the virus evolved independently since its introduction to wild rabbit populations on the Iberian Peninsula, with the Pyrenees acting as a natural barrier to rabbit and hence to virus dispersal. No differences were observed in RHDV sequences obtained from geographic regions where the rabbit subspecies O. c. algirus prevails compared with those obtained from O. c. cuniculus.
迄今为止，尽管兔出血性疾病在西班牙和葡萄牙呈地方性流行，且继续对物种保护和狩猎业产生重大影响，但关于这两个国家兔出血性疾病病毒（RHDV）的信息却很少。我们分析了1994年至2007年间从葡萄牙不同地理位置（40个样本）、西班牙（3个样本）和法国（4个样本）的死于该病的野生欧洲兔（穴兔）身上获得的RHDV。基于部分VP60基因序列的系统发育分析将这些RHDV分为三组，称为“伊比利亚”组IB1、IB2和IB3。有趣的是，这三个伊比利亚组分别聚类，虽然离基因组1的早期RHDV（如“AST89”毒株）不远，但明显不同于全球描述的基因组2 - 6的RHDV毒株。这一结果得到了76%的自展值支持，由此产生了一个假设，即该病毒自引入伊比利亚半岛的野兔种群后独立进化，比利牛斯山脉成为兔子以及病毒传播的天然屏障。与从穴兔亚种占优势的地理区域获得的RHDV序列相比，从阿尔及利亚穴兔占优势的地理区域获得的RHDV序列未观察到差异。
