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. 2020 Mar 3;9(3):183.
doi: 10.3390/pathogens9030183.

Phylogenetic Analysis of Belgian Small Ruminant Lentiviruses Supports Cross Species Virus Transmission and Identifies New Subtype B5 Strains

Rodolphe Michiels  1 , Nadjah Radia Adjadj  1 , Nick De Regge  1
Affiliations

Phylogenetic Analysis of Belgian Small Ruminant Lentiviruses Supports Cross Species Virus Transmission and Identifies New Subtype B5 Strains

Rodolphe Michiels et al. Pathogens. .

Abstract

Small ruminant lentiviruses (SRLV) are a group of highly divergent viruses responsible for global and fatal infections in sheep and goats. Since the current phylogenetic classification of these viruses was proposed in 2004, it nowadays consists out of 5 genotypes and 28 subtypes. In support of our national SRLV control program, we performed the genetic characterization of SRLV strains circulating in the Belgian sheep and goat population. Fourteen sheep and 9 goat strains were sequenced in the gag-pol and pol regions using the method described by Shah. Most SRLV strains from sheep and goats belonged to prototype A1 and B1 subtypes, respectively. We, however, also found indications for cross-species transmission of SRLV strains between sheep and goats and vice versa, and identified a new subtype designated as B5. An in-depth analysis of the current SRLV phylogeny revealed that many subtypes have been defined over the years based on limited sequence information. To keep phylogeny as a useful tool, we advocate to apply more rigorous sequencing standards to ensure the correct classification of current and new emerging strains. The genetic characterization of Belgian SRLV strains will help in the development of appropriate diagnostic tools to assist the national control program.

Keywords: Belgium; Maedi-Visna virus; caprine arthritis encephalitis virus; cross-species transmission; phylogeny; small ruminant lentivirus; subtype B5.

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Conflict of interest statement

None of the authors declares to have a conflict of interest that could influence or bias the content of the paper.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Phylogenetic tree was inferred by neighbor-joining using a 1516 bp consensus fragment located in the gag-pol region (1.8 kb). Only bootstrap values ≥70 are shown. All sequences are indicated by their GeneBank accession number and their names between brackets. For the Belgian isolates (21), indicated in bold, the provinces of origin are designated by their abbreviations: A: Antwerpen; H: Henegouwen; LB: Limburg; LK: Luik; LX: Luxemburg; OV: Oost-Vlaanderen; VB: Vlaams Brabant; WV: West-Vlaanderen. For the reference strains described in the literature, their subtype affiliations are named in parenthesis. For few strains, only the genotype affiliations were indicated. Country abbreviations are: BEL: Belgium; CA; Canada; FIN: Finland; GB: Great Britain; IC: Iceland; IT: Italy; MX: Mexico; NW: Norway; PR: Portugal; PRC: People’s Republic of China; RSA: Republic of South Africa; SLO: Slovenia; SP: Spain; SZ: Switzerland; USA; United States of America.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Phylogenetic tree was inferred by neighbor-joining using a 1068 bp consensus fragment located in the pol region (1.2 kb). Only bootstrap values ≥ 70 are shown. All sequences are indicated by their GeneBank accession number and their names between brackets. For the Belgian isolates (20), indicated in bold, the provinces of origin are designated by their abbreviations: A: Antwerpen; H: Henegouwen; LB: Limburg; LK: Luik; LX: Luxemburg; OV: Oost-Vlaanderen; VB: Vlaams Brabant; WV: West-Vlaanderen. For the reference strains described in the literature, their subtype affiliations are named in parenthesis. For few strains, only the genotype affiliations were indicated. Country abbreviations are: BEL: Belgium; CA; Canada; FIN: Finland; GB: Great Britain; IC: Iceland; IT: Italy; MX: Mexico; NW: Norway; PR: Portugal; PRC: People’s Republic of China; RSA: Republic of South Africa; SLO: Slovenia; SP: Spain; SZ: Switzerland; USA; United States of America.
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