Data from: Resistance to RHD virus in wild Australian rabbits: comparison of susceptible and resistant individuals using a genomewide approach

Deciphering the genes involved in disease resistance is essential if we are to understand host–pathogen coevolutionary processes. The rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV) was imported into Australia in 1995 as a biocontrol agent to manage one of the most successful and devastating invasive species, the European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus). During the first outbreaks of the disease, RHDV caused mortality rates of up to 97%. Recently, however, increased genetic resistance to RHDV has been reported. Here, we have aimed to identify genomic differences between rabbits that survived a natural infection with RHDV and those that died in the field using a genomewide next-generation sequencing (NGS) approach. We detected 72 SNPs corresponding to 133 genes associated with survival of a RHD infection. Most of the identified genes have known functions in virus infections and replication, immune responses or apoptosis, or have previously been found to be regulated during RHD. Some of the genes identified in experimental studies, however, did not seem to play a role under natural selection regimes, highlighting the importance of field studies to complement the genomic background of wildlife diseases. Our study provides a set of candidate markers as a tool for the future scanning of wild rabbits for their resistance to RHDV. This is important both for wild rabbit populations in southern Europe where RHD is regarded as a serious problem decimating the prey of endangered predator species and for assessing the success of currently planned RHDV variant biocontrol releases in Australia.

解析参与疾病抗性的基因，是理解宿主-病原体共进化过程的关键所在。兔出血症病毒（rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus, RHDV）于1995年作为生物防治剂被引入澳大利亚，用于管控极具破坏力且入侵最为成功的外来物种之一——欧洲兔（Oryctolagus cuniculus）。在该病毒首次暴发流行期间，RHDV的致死率高达97%。但近期有研究报道，兔群对RHDV的遗传抗性已有所提升。本研究采用全基因组下一代测序（genomewide next-generation sequencing, NGS）技术，旨在比对经RHDV自然感染后存活与野外死亡兔只的基因组差异。本研究共检测到72个单核苷酸多态性（Single Nucleotide Polymorphism, SNP）位点，对应133个与RHDV感染存活相关的基因。多数已鉴定基因的已知功能涉及病毒感染与复制、免疫应答或细胞凋亡，或此前被报道在RHDV感染过程中存在表达调控现象。不过，部分在实验研究中鉴定出的基因在自然选择条件下并未发挥作用，这凸显了野外研究对补充野生动物疾病基因组背景信息的重要性。本研究筛选出一组候选分子标记，可作为未来野外兔群RHDV抗性筛查的工具。该研究成果具有双重重要意义：既可为南欧地区受RHD困扰的野生兔群提供研究支持——该地区RHD被视为严重问题，其导致濒危捕食者物种的猎物种群大幅锐减；也可用于评估澳大利亚当前计划释放的RHDV变异株生物防治项目的实施效果。