Parallel adaptation of rabbit populations to myxoma virus
- Alves, Joel M.
- Carneiro, Miguel
- Cheng, Jade Y.
- de Matos, Ana Lemos
- Rahman, Masmudur M.
- Loog, Liisa
- Campos, Paula F.
- Wales, Nathan
- Eriksson, Anders
- Manica, Andrea
- Strive, Tanja
- Graham, Stephen C.
- Alfonso, Sandra
- Bell, Diana
- Belmont, Laura
- Day, Jonathan P.
- Fuller, Susan J.
- Marchandeau, Stephane
- Palmer, William J.
- Queney, Guillaume
- Surridge, Alison K.
- Vieira, Filipe G.
- McFadden, Grant
- Nielsen, Rasmus
- Gilbert, M. Thomas P.
- Esteves, Pedro J.
- Ferrand, Nuno
- Jiggins, Francis M.
Publication date
March 2019
DOI Publisher
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)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 favouring 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
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