Abstract
China is one of the largest countries with endemic rabies. In this study, we examined the full-length genome sequences of 87 rabies virus (RABV) strains identified in China from 1931 to 2019. Chinese RABV isolates were divided into two major clades, GI and GII. Clade GI consisted of viruses from the Asian clade, which was further divided into three subclades: Asian1, Asian2, and Asian3. Clade GII consisted of viruses from the Cosmopolitan, Arctic-related, and Indian clades. A phylogeographic network showed that the variation of rabies virus was more closely associated with geographic location than with the host species. Recombination appears to be one of the factors driving the emergence of new viral strains.
Data availability
The nucleotide and protein sequence data used in this study are available in the NCBI GenBank database.
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Acknowledgements
We thank everyone who contributed to the collection and production of RABV genomic sequences in NCBI GenBank.
Funding
This work is supported by Four "batches” innovation project of invigorating medical through science and technology of Shanxi province for Dr. Li Xing (2023XM015) and the Programme of Introducing Talents of Discipline to Universities (D21004).
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PHW and LX conceived the study. PHW and PS performed analysis. PHW wrote the manuscript. PHW and LX revised the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Wang, PH., Shah, P.T. & Xing, L. Genetic characteristics and geographic distribution of rabies virus in China. Arch Virol 169, 14 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-023-05947-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-023-05947-8