Phylogenetic relationships among rhabdoviruses inferred using the L polymerase gene

RNA viruses of the family Rhabdoviridae include arthropod-borne agents that infect plants, fish and mammals, and also include a variety of non-vector-borne mammalian viruses. Herein is presented a molecular phylogenetic analysis, the largest undertaken to date, of 56 rhabdoviruses, including 20 viruses which are currently unassigned or assigned as tentative species within the Rhabdoviridae. Degenerate primers targeting a region of block III of the L polymerase gene were defined and used for RT-PCR amplification and sequencing. A maximum-likelihood phylogenetic analysis of a 158-residue L polymerase amino acid sequence produced an evolutionary tree containing the six recognized genera of the Rhabdoviridae and also enabled us to identify four more monophyletic groups of currently unclassified rhabdoviruses that we refer to as the 'Hart Park', 'Almpiwar', 'Le Dantec' and 'Tibrogargan' groups. The broad phylogenetic relationships among these groups and genera also indicate that the evolutionary history of rhabdoviruses was strongly influenced by mode of transmission, host species (plant, fish or mammal) and vector (orthopteran, homopteran or dipteran).