Identification of novel canine rabies virus clades in the Middle East and North Africa

• DOI: 10.1099/vir.0.82352-0
• Publication Date: 2007-02-26T23:48:23Z
• Authors: Dan David; Gareth J. Hughes; Boris A. Yakobson; Irit Davidson; Hikmat Un; Orhan Aylan; Ivan V. Kuzmin; Charles E. Rupprecht
• Keywords: 0301 basic medicine; Geography; Rabies; Molecular Sequence Data; Antibodies, Monoclonal; Genetic Variation; Sequence Analysis, DNA; Nucleocapsid Proteins; Antibodies, Viral; 3. Good health; Evolution, Molecular; Middle East; 03 medical and health sciences; Dogs; Africa, Northern; Rabies virus; Animals; RNA, Viral; Amino Acid Sequence; Dog Diseases; Antigens, Viral; Sequence Alignment; Phylogeny

Four novel phylogenetic clades of canine rabies virus (RABV) variants have been identified in the Middle East and North Africa. The three novel Middle Eastern clades comprise RABV isolates from the borders between Israel and neighbouring countries. The North African clade (Africa 4) comprises four RABV isolates from Egypt and one from Israel. We characterized various RABV lineages antigenically by using a panel of monoclonal antibodies to the nucleoprotein (N) and phylogenetically by analysis of entire N gene sequences. The estimated mean substitution rate for the N gene alignment (2.7×10−4substitutions per site per year) is comparable with previous estimates for RABV. The application of a molecular clock indicates the emergence of current canine RABV diversity to have occurred at about the same time (approx. 1870) in the Middle East and Europe, following divergence from established lineages in Africa and Asia.