Analysis of Chinese Rabies virus isolates from 2003-2007 based on P and M protein genes

Phylogenetic analysis of nucleotide sequences or deduced amino acid sequences of phosphoprotein (P protein), matrix (M) protein, and glycoprotein (G protein) genes of 18 Chinese isolates of Rabies virus (RABV) from 2003-2007 showed that these isolates formed a separate monophyletic lineage consisting of sub-lineages A and B. Compared with laboratory-fixed strains, recent Chinese isolates of sub-lineage B contained Val or Ala instead of Met 69 in P protein, which is involved in generating truncated P proteins. In addition, one of these isolates CHpg3 had Pro instead of Ser63 and Leu instead of Ser64. Importantly, all functional domains of P and M proteins of all recent Chinese isolates were similar to those of laboratory-fixed strains. This study showed that although the recent Chinese RABV isolates belonged to a distinct lineage, their functional domains of P and M proteins were highly conserved.