RT Journal Article SR Electronic(1) A1 Trewby, Hannah A1 Ayele, Gizachew A1 Borzacchiello, Giuseppe A1 Brandt, Sabine A1 Campo, M. Saveria A1 Del Fava, Claudia A1 Marais, Johan A1 Leonardi, Leonardo A1 Vanselow, Barbara A1 Biek, Roman A1 Nasir, LubnaYR 2014 T1 Analysis of the long control region of bovine papillomavirus type 1 associated with sarcoids in equine hosts indicates multiple cross-species transmission events and phylogeographical structure JF Journal of General Virology, VO 95 IS 12 SP 2748 OP 2756 DO https://doi.org/10.1099/vir.0.066589-0 PB Microbiology Society, SN 1465-2099, AB Papillomaviruses are a family of slowly evolving DNA viruses and their evolution is commonly linked to that of their host species. However, whilst bovine papillomavirus-1 (BPV-1) primarily causes warts in its natural host, the cow, it can also cause locally aggressive and invasive skin tumours in equids, known as sarcoids, and thus provides a rare contemporary example of cross-species transmission of a papillomavirus. Here, we describe the first phylogenetic analysis of BPV-1 in equine sarcoids to our knowledge, allowing us to explore the evolutionary history of BPV-1 and investigate its cross-species association with equids. A phylogenetic analysis of the BPV-1 transcriptional promoter region (the long control region or LCR) was conducted on 15 bovine and 116 equine samples from four continents. Incorporating previous estimates for evolutionary rates in papillomavirus implied that the genetic diversity in the LCR variants was ancient and predated domestication of both equids and cattle. The phylogeny demonstrated geographical segregation into an ancestral group (African, South American and Australian samples), and a more recently derived, largely European clade. Whilst our data are consistent with BPV-1 originating in cattle, we found evidence of multiple, probably relatively recent, cross-species transmission events into horses. We also demonstrated the high prevalence of one particular sequence variant (variant 20), and suggest this may indicate that this variant shows a fitness advantage in equids. Although strong host specificity remains the norm in papillomaviruses, our results demonstrate that exceptions to this rule exist and can become epidemiologically relevant., UL https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/jgv/10.1099/vir.0.066589-0