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Recombination patterns in aphthoviruses mirror those found in other picornaviruses

Livio Heath1, Eric van der Walt, Arvind Varsani

  • 1Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa.

Journal of Virology
|September 15, 2006
PubMed

Insights

Recombination significantly impacts Foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) evolution, with frequent sequence exchange between serotypes. Breakpoint distributions suggest structural and nonstructural genes evolve independently.

Area of Science:

  • Virology
  • Molecular Biology
  • Evolutionary Biology

Background:

  • Foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) evolution is traditionally attributed to RNA polymerase errors (genetic drift).
  • Emerging evidence highlights the role of genetic recombination in picornavirus evolution.
  • Understanding recombination's role is crucial for FMDV and related virus evolution.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the extent and patterns of genetic recombination in FMDV.
  • To determine if recombination occurs between different FMDV serotypes.
  • To analyze the distribution of recombination breakpoints within the FMDV genome.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized an extensive suite of recombination detection methods.
  • Analyzed 125 publicly available complete FMDV genome sequences.
  • Compared breakpoint distributions with other picornaviruses (Enterovirus, Teschovirus).

Main Results:

  • Identified 86 unique potential recombination events in FMDV genomes.
  • Detected significant recombination between different FMDV serotypes, indicating frequent horizontal gene flow.
  • Found a nonrandom distribution of breakpoints, with hot spots separating structural and nonstructural genes.

Conclusions:

  • Recombination is a major driver of FMDV evolution, alongside genetic drift.
  • Structural and nonstructural genes of FMDV and other picornaviruses may function as interchangeable modules.
  • Independent evolution of structural and nonstructural coding regions is supported by breakpoint patterns.

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