Homologous recombination in bovine pestiviruses Phylogenetic and statistic evidence

Bovine pestiviruses (Bovine Viral Diarrea Virus 1 (BVDV 1) and Bovine Viral Diarrea Virus 2 (BVDV 2)) belong to the genus Pestivirus (Flaviviridae), which is composed of positive stranded RNA viruses causing significant economic losses world-wide. We used phylogenetic and bootstrap analyses to systematically scan alignments of previously sequenced genomes in order to explore further the evolutionary mechanisms responsible for variation in the virus. Previously published data suggested that homologous crossover might be one of the mechanisms responsible for the genomic rearrangements observed in cytopathic (cp) strains of bovine pestiviruses. Nevertheless, homologous recombination involves not just homologous crossovers, but also replacement of a homologous region of the acceptor RNA. Furthermore, cytopathic strains represent dead paths in evolution, since they are isolated exclusively from the fatal cases of mucosal disease. Herein, we report evidence of homologous inter-genotype recombination in the genome of a non-cytopathic (ncp) strain of Bovine Viral Diarrea Virus 1, the type species of the genus Pestivirus. We also show that intra-genotype homologous recombination might be a common phenomenon in both species of Pestivirus. This evidence demonstrates that homologous recombination contribute to the diversification of bovine pestiviruses in nature. Implications for virus evolution, taxonomy and phylogenetics are discussed. (C) 2004 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.