Homologous recombination is apparent in infectious bursal disease virus

Infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) is a non-enveloped double-stranded RNA virus belonging to the Birnaviridae family. It shows substantial variation in the major antigen region of the viral capsid protein VP2, where a hypervariable region plays a key role in the virulence of IBDV and its epitope. This study identifies several putative recombinants from previously published data to suggest that homologous recombination may naturally occur between different IBDV strains. In addition, a novel very virulence sublineage emerges in the VP2 phylogenic tree, comprising three putative recombination strains isolated in Korea and China, KSH, KK1 and SH-h. The major putative parents of the three mosaics are descended from the vaccine lineage while their hypervariable regions from vvIBDV. These findings also suggest that vaccine coverage may have influence on the evolution and genetic diversity of IBDV, resulting in a novel group with vvIBDV phenotype through recombination with wild IBDV.