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J Gen Virol 89 (2008), 3156-3164; DOI 10.1099/vir.0.2008/004101-0

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Phylogenetic evidence for homologous recombination within the family Birnaviridae

Chung-Chau Hon, Tommy Tsan-Yuk Lam, Chi-Wai Yip, Raymond Tsz-Yeung Wong, Mang Shi, Jingwei Jiang, Fanya Zeng and Frederick Chi-Ching Leung

School of Biological Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR

Correspondence
Frederick Chi-Ching Leung
fcleung{at}hkucc.hku.hk

Birnaviruses are bi-segmented double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) viruses infecting insects, avian species and a wide range of aquatic species. Although homologous recombination is a common phenomenon in positive-sense RNA viruses, recombination in dsRNA viruses is rarely reported. Here we performed a comprehensive survey on homologous recombination in all available sequences (>1800) of the family Birnaviridae based on phylogenetic incongruence. Although inter-species recombination was not evident, potential intra-species recombination events were detected in aquabirnaviruses and infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV). Eight potential recombination events were identified and the possibility that these events were non-naturally occurring was assessed case by case. Five of the eight events were identified in IBDVs and all of these five events involved live attenuated vaccine strains. This finding suggests that homologous recombination between vaccine and wild-type IBDV strains may have occurred; the potential risk of mass vaccination using live vaccines is discussed. This is the first report of evidence for homologous recombination within the family Birnaviridae.

A supplementary figure and supplementary sequence data are available with the online version of this paper.






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