Molecular characterization of the complete genome of a street rabies virus WH11 isolated from donkey in China.

The complete genomic sequence of a rabies virus isolate WH11, isolated from brain tissue of a rabid donkey in China, was determined and compared with other rabies viruses. This is the first Chinese street strain which was isolated from donkey and the entire length and organization of the virus was similar to that of other rabies viruses. Multiple alignments of amino acid sequences of the nucleoprotein, phosphoprotein, matrix protein, glycoprotein, and large protein of WH11 with those of other rabies viruses were undertaken to examine the conservative degree of functional regions. Phylogenetic analysis using the complete genomic sequence of WH11 determined that this isolate is most closely related with rabies viruses previously isolated in China and the attenuated Chinese vaccine strain CTN181.