Study of the homologous recombination in the natural diversity of the population of BoHV-1/5, BuHV-1 reported and deposited in the databases

BRUNNER BELEN; MAIDANA SILVINA; SALVATIERRA KARINA

Congreso; Women in Bioinformatics and Data Science; 2020

Alphaherpesvirinae subfamily members are numerous viral agents of great relevance for ruminant health and production. The large diversity of this subfamily could have been caused by recombination as important mechanism. From a viral evolution point of view, recombination can be considered like a driving force essential that would increase the chances to ?channel? rare but advantageous mutations within a viral species. Here we analyze the complete nucleotide sequences of the genomes of ruminant alphaherpesviruses deposited in GenBank to determine recombination points between these viruses using bioinformatics tools. Alignments of the complete genome sequences of the BoHV1, BoHV5 and BuHV1 as well as the individual UL, US and IR regions, were prepared using the Multiple Alignment with MAFFT version 7. Recombination networks on alignments of the whole genome, and the sequences in different sub-regions (UL, IR and US) of the 17 strains were performed by using SplitsTree4. Statistical analysis of the recombination networks was generated by using the Phi test. Recombination analyses were then performed using seven algorithms within RDP4 V 4.83 and also were used to visualize breakpoint distribution plots in order to determine patterns and/or recombination hot spots. A total of 22115 informative sites were found in the whole genome of the 18 strains, and the phi test presented statistically significant evidence for recombination (p= 0.0). The recombination events were also detected in the UL region (10528 informative sites, p=0.0), the IR region (3365 informative sites, p < 0.001) and the US region (4275 informative sites, p < 0.001). From 7 - 5 algorithms of the rdp4 program detected 19 interespecific recombination events from an array of 17 ruminat alphaherpesvirus genomes scattered throughout the genome. We identify interspecific recombinant viruses within those deposited in the database, reaffirming the existence of natural recombination in these virus populations. Recombination should be now investigated with regards to its impact on differential diagnosis methods, the risk to escape vaccine-induced immunity and pathogenesis of infections.