Parallel adaptation of rabbit populations to myxoma virus

作者：Joel M. Alves, Miguel Carneiro, Jade Yu 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 Bell, Laura Belmont, Jonathan P. Day, Susan Fuller, Stéphane Marchandeau, William J. Palmer, Guillaume Queney, Alison K. Surridge, Filipe Garrett Vieira, Grant McFadden, Rasmus Nielsen, M. Thomas P. Gilbert, Pedro J. Esteves, Nuno Ferrand, Francis M. Jiggins · 发表于：Science · 年份：2019 · DOI：10.1126/science.aau7285 · 被引用次数：175 · 研究领域：Animal Disease Management and Epidemiology、Poxvirus research and outbreaks、Herpesvirus Infections and Treatments

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 the protein's antiviral effect.