Research On Character Of Molecular Biology Of Rabies Virus P & M Genes In China

Although the bulk of data and research on RV now exist in the public archives, the relatively few research about the characteristics of both phosphoprotein(PP)and matrix protein(MP)gene of rabies virus are available. In this study, the DFA-positive human and dog samples were collected from six provinces including Guangxi, Guizhou, Hunan, Jiangsu, Anhui and Yunnan. The Nucleotide sequences of the PP and MP genes which were amplified by RT-PCR techniques were determined and compared with other known RV isolates in GenBank. The similarity, functional sites and phylogenetic analyses were performed, which are helpful to the further research on molecular biology and structure of rabies viruses in China.The results show that the similarity of nucleotide and amino acid sequences of PP gene are 81.8～100% and 82.9～99.7% respectively while those of MP gene are 88.7～100% and 95.0～100% respectively. The highly conserved region of P gene is the interactive region between PP and endochylema dynein light chain 8(LC8), and the first 19 amino acids in the interactive region between PP and LP(large protein). There is a few substitution sites in the P gene such as the specific Ser phosphorylation sites and some sites among the interactive region ( aa 209-216 ) between PP and NP(nucleoprotein).The variable region(aa 50-75)located in the signal domain. The analyses of M gene show the 58th amino acid residue and the PPxY domain are highly conserved, while the 17th-22nd amino acid residues are located in the potential antigen determinant in the end of NP.According to the analyses of P and M gene, all the tested RV isolates belong to rabies virus genotype1. Both P and M gene are highly conserved and they take on a co-evolutional property. Although the distribution of Chinese isolates is regionally, it is not strictly correlated to administrational areas. The rabies virus strains not only circulated in their original province but also spread to the adjoining provinces. Around the national boundary between China and Southeast Asians, the rabies virus isolates are tightly related to each other genetically especially between Yunnan province and Thailand. All the RV strains isolated from dog and human samples, and phylogenetic analyses indicates the tendency of RV evolution is from dogs to humans, which confirms the important role of dog RV in human rabies.