Introduction: Rabies is an acute disease of the central nervous system and is responsible for the deaths of thousands of humans, wild animals and livestock, particularly cattle, as well as causing major economic losses. This study describes the genetic characterization of rabies virus variants that circulate in Desmodus rotundus populations and are transmitted to herbivores.
Methods: Fifty rabies virus isolates from bovines and equines in the States of São Paulo and Minas Gerais, Brazil, were genetically characterized and compared with sequences retrieved from GenBank.
Results: Two clusters (I and II) with mean nucleotide identities of 99.1 and 97.6% were found. The first of these contained nearly all the samples analyzed. Lineages from other Brazilian states grouped in cluster II.
Conclusions: Analysis of the amino acid sequences of the N proteins revealed the existence of genetic markers that may indicate possible variations between geographic regions, although the biologically active regions are conserved within the species over space and time.