%0 Journal Article %A Le Gall, G. %A Arnauld, C. %A Boilletot, E %A Morisse, J. P. %A Rasschaert, D %T Molecular epidemiology of rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus outbreaks in France during 1988 to 1995 %D 1998 %J Journal of General Virology, %V 79 %N 1 %P 11-16 %@ 1465-2099 %R https://doi.org/10.1099/0022-1317-79-1-11 %I Microbiology Society, %X In order to evaluate genetic variation between rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV) isolates and to derive phylogenetic relationships, 56 virus isolates collected from various parts of France over a 7 year period (1988 to 1995) were examined. Analyses were carried out by direct nucleotide sequencing of PCR fragments of three genomic regions encoding the capsid protein (VP60) (regions A and B) and a non-structural protein (region C). Multiple sequence alignments revealed maximum nucleotide divergence of 7·6, 9·4 and 8·7% for regions A, B and C, respectively, indicating a high level of conservation between isolates. Irrespective of the genomic region analysed, phylogenetic analyses carried out using various methods allowed the identification of three genogroups; distribution of isolates within these genogroups appears to be more related to the year of their collection than to their geographical origin. The possible evolution of RHDV is discussed. %U https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/jgv/10.1099/0022-1317-79-1-11