Parallel adaptation of rabbit populations to myxoma virus

Joel M. Alves*, Miguel Carneiro, Jade Y. Cheng, Ana Lemos de Matos, Masmudur M. Rahman, Liisa Loog, Paula F. Campos, Nathan Wales, Anders Eriksson, Andrea Manica, Tanja Strive, Stephen C. Graham, Sandra Afonso, Diana J. Bell, Laura Belmont, Jonathan P. Day, Susan J. Fuller, Stéphane Marchandeau, William J. Palmer, Guillaume QueneyAlison K. Surridge, Filipe G. Vieira, Grant McFadden, Rasmus Nielsen, M. Thomas P. Gilbert, Pedro J. Esteves, Nuno Ferrand, Francis M. Jiggins

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

In the 1950s the myxoma virus was released into European rabbit populations in Australia and Europe, decimating populations and resulting in the rapid evolution of resistance. We investigated the genetic basis of resistance by comparing the exomes of rabbits collected before and after the pandemic. We found a strong pattern of parallel evolution, with selection on standing genetic variation favoring the same alleles in Australia, France and the United Kingdom. Many of these changes occurred in immunity-related genes, supporting a polygenic basis of resistance. We experimentally validated the role of several genes in viral replication and showed that selection acting on an interferon protein has increased its antiviral effect.

Original languageEnglish
Number of pages13
JournalScience
Early online date14 Feb 2019
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 14 Feb 2019

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