CpG content is higher in carnivore-associated rabies clades than in bat-associated clades. (A) Ratio of observed-to-expected CpG content, where a value of 1 indicates no bias, >1 indicates overrepresentation of CpG, and <1 indicates underrepresentation. (B) Ratio of observed-to-expected UpA content. (C) Number of CpG dinucleotides by clade. (D) Number of UpA dinucleotides by clade.
N gene sequences from all bat-associated clades except Bat LC on average contain more ZAP suboptimal binding motifs than optimal motifs, whereas some carnivore clades contain more optimal binding motifs. (A) Ratio between the number of optimal and suboptimal ZAP binding motifs by species-specific RABV clade. Note that the y-axis is log scaled. (B) Locations of CpG dinucleotides (grey), ZAP optimal motifs (pink) and ZAP suboptimal motifs (blue) on the N gene show that the acquired CpG dinucleotides in carnivore-associated clades occur both within and outside of ZAP-optimal motifs. Point size represents the proportion of sequences within each clade where each motif is present at each locus.
The most interesting finding for me was the increase in CpG content and ZAP-optimal binding motifs in carnivore-associated clades compared to bat-associated clades. Are carnivore clades less exposed to ZAP? Does carnivore ZAP work differently to bat ZAP?
