Phylogenetic analysis of lumpy skin disease virus isolates in Russia in 2019-2021

Lumpy skin disease continues to pose a threat to countries in the East and Asia-Pacific regions. Although only occasional LSDV outbreaks have been reported recently in Russia, these have been mainly restricted to the Far East region of the country. An increase in the number of outbreaks in South East Asia has been attributed to recombinant vaccine-like LSDV strains. In this scenario, it is epidemiologically important to perform phylogenetic analysis to track the distribution of LSDV worldwide at the genetic level to understand routes of migration and molecular evolution patterns. In this study, we investigated the RPO30 and GPCR gene regions of LSDV isolates associated with outbreaks in 2019-2021 in Siberia and the Far East region of Russia. The inferred phylogeny confirms the recombinant origin of these sequenced isolates. Based on sequences of these selected loci, the isolates from 2019 differed from isolates detected in Russia in the past and from isolates from Asian countries, while the isolates from 2020 and 2021 exhibited a high degree of similarity to the Asian isolates. These findings indicate that recombinant LSDV strains continue to persist and additionally point to the establishment of a specific lineage of recombinant isolates in the region. Full genome sequencing is still needed to gain more information about how the circulating isolates are related to each other.