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Volume 16, Number 8—August 2010
Letter

Not-So-Novel Michigan Rabbit Calicivirus

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To the Editor: A disease outbreak in a Michigan rabbitry led Bergin et al. (1) to identify a new rabbit calicivirus distinct from rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus, which they designated as Michigan rabbit calicivirus (MRCV). They found that in domestic rabbits from the United States, 2 different forms of rabbit calicivirus with differences in pathogenicity are circulating. Bergin et al. showed that, phylogenetically, MRCV was more closely related to the nonpathogenic rabbit calicivirus (RCV) than to pathogenic strains and used this observation as an argument for its classification as a novel calicivirus. However, they did not include the publicly available sequences of other nonpathogenic strains, such as Ashington (97% of the capsid viral protein [VP] 60) and the newly identified Lagovirus spp. RCV-A1 (complete genome) (2).

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Thumbnail of Evolutionary relationships of Lagovirus strains. The evolutionary history was inferred by using the neighbor-joining method (3) with the pairwise deletion option. The tree is drawn to scale. There were a total of 563 positions (97% of the capsid viral protein [60 aa sequence]). Phylogenetic analyses were conducted in MEGA 4 (4). Reliability of the tree was assessed by bootstrap with 1,000 replicates and is indicated in the nodes (only relevant values are shown). Several genetic dist

Figure. Evolutionary relationships of Lagovirus strains. The evolutionary history was inferred by using the neighbor-joining method (3) with the pairwise deletion option. The tree is drawn to scale. There were...

Using the same dataset as Bergin et al. and including these sequences, we performed genetic analyses focusing mainly on the capsid VP60. The lack of information for open reading frame 1 for the nonpathogenic strains led to this option. Independently of the sequences’ length, RCV-A1 was more closely related to the Lagovirus spp. European brown hare syndrome virus, here used as an outgroup, and clearly apart from a highly supported primary group that was further subdivided into 2 also highly supported subgroups, 1 composed of pathogenic rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus strains and another encompassing the RCV-like group (RCV, Ashington and Lambay [2], and MRCV). Here, only the phylogenetic tree that corresponds to the more complete VP60 sequences is shown (Figure).

We conclude that MRCV is not a novel calicivirus but a new variant of the nonpathogenic RCV-like group. However, the low pathogenicity presented by MRCV and the presence of viral RNA in the liver rather than in the intestine are clearly new features among the nonpathogenic RCV-like group (5).

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Acknowledgment

This work was supported by Foundation for Science and Technology Portugal grants SFRH/BD/31048/2006 and SFRH/BPD/27021/2006 to J.A. and P.J.E., respectively.

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Joana Abrantes and Pedro J. Esteves
Author affiliations: CIBIO-UP (Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Vairão–Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal (J. Abrantes, P.J. Esteves); Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM), Unité 892, Université de Nantes, Nantes, France (J. Abrantes); CESPU (Cooperativa de Ensino Superior Politécnico e Universitário), Gandra, Portugal (P.J. Esteves).

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References

  1. Bergin  IL, Wise  AG, Bolin  SR, Mullaney  TP, Kiupel  M, Maes  RK. Novel calicivirus identified in rabbits, Michigan, USA. Emerg Infect Dis. 2009;15:195562. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  2. Strive  T, Wright  JD, Robinson  AJ. Identification and partial characterisation of a new lagovirus in Australian wild rabbits. Virology. 2009;384:97105. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  3. Saitou  N, Nei  M. The neighbor-joining method: a new method for reconstructing phylogenetic trees. Mol Biol Evol. 1987;4:40625.PubMedGoogle Scholar
  4. Tamura  K, Dudley  J, Nei  M, Kumar  S. MEGA4: Molecular Evolutionary Genetics Analysis (MEGA) software version 4.0. Mol Biol Evol. 2007;24:15969. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  5. Capucci  L, Fusi  P, Lavazza  A, Pacciarini  ML, Rossi  C. Detection and preliminary characterization of a new rabbit calicivirus related to rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus but nonpathogenic. J Virol. 1996;70:861423.PubMedGoogle Scholar

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Cite This Article

DOI: 10.3201/eid1608.091803

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In response: We thank Abrantes and Esteves for their interest in our article (1). We demonstrated that a disease outbreak among rabbits in the United States was associated with a calicivirus distinct from members of the species Rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV) (2). Rabbit hemorrhagic disease is classified as a disease of foreign animals in the United States and is caused by the only calicivirus in the genus Lagovirus previously associated with disease in rabbits. Our phylogenetic analysis established that Michigan rabbit calicivirus (MRCV) is distinct from RHDV and more closely related to a nonpathogenic rabbit calicivirus (RCV). We are pleased that Abrantes and Esteves agree with us on this point.

In regard to phylogeny, the additional analysis performed by Abrantes and Esteves is an extension to, not an omission of, the original disease-focused paper. It is difficult to understand their objection to the term novel, a point that seems semantic. This term has more than just a phylogenetic connotation, and our use of it is consistent with other reports in this journal (3,4).

In Abrantes and Esteves’ analysis, although RCV, Ashington, MRCV, and RCV-A1 appear to share common ancestry, MRCV branches separately from Ashington and RCV. The limited sequence availability for RCV and Ashington hampers detailed analysis of the interrelatedness of these viruses.

In conclusion, we describe MRCV as a novel calicivirus on the basis of its identification as the first non-RHDV Lagovirus sp. detected in the United States, its unique pathogenic potential to rabbits among the currently described non-RHDV lagoviruses, and its genetic distinction from RHDV. The phylogenetic relationships of the non-RHDV caliciviruses will no doubt be further refined as more members with complete or near-complete sequences, like MRCV, become available. Perhaps this will shed further light on the apparent pathogenicity of MRCV under certain circumstances.

References

  1. Abrantes  J, Esteves  PJ. Not-so-novel Michigan rabbit calicivirus [letter]. Emerg Infect Dis. 2010;16:13312. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  2. Bergin  IL, Wise  AG, Bolin  SR, Mullaney  TP, Kiupel  M, Maes  RK. Novel calicivirus identified in rabbits, Michigan, USA. Emerg Infect Dis. 2009;15:195562. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  3. Hall  AJ, Cassiday  PK, Bernard  KA, Bolt  F, Steigerwalt  AG, Bixler  D, Novel Corynebacterium diphtheriae in domestic cats. Emerg Infect Dis. 2010;16:68891.PubMedGoogle Scholar
  4. Hofmann  MA, Renzullo  S, Mader  M, Chaignat  V, Worwa  G, Thuer  B. Genetic characterization of toggenburg orbivirus, a new bluetongue virus, from goats, Switzerland. Emerg Infect Dis. 2008;14:185561. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar

Table of Contents – Volume 16, Number 8—August 2010

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Page created: June 08, 2011
Page updated: June 08, 2011
Page reviewed: June 08, 2011
The conclusions, findings, and opinions expressed by authors contributing to this journal do not necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Public Health Service, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or the authors' affiliated institutions. Use of trade names is for identification only and does not imply endorsement by any of the groups named above.
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