Understanding the factors that determine the rate at which genomes generate and fix
mutations provides important insights into key evolutionary mechanisms. We review our …

The rapid rates of viral evolution allow us to reconstruct the recent history of viruses in great
detail. This feature, however, also results in rapid erosion of evolutionary signal within viral …

Among the most fundamental questions in viral evolutionary biology are how fast viruses
evolve and how evolutionary rates differ among viruses and fluctuate through time …

Rabies is a progressively fatal and incurable viral encephalitis caused by a lyssavirus
infection. Almost all of the 55 000 annual rabies deaths in humans result from infection with …

Numerous bat species have been identified as important reservoirs of zoonotic viral
pathogens. Rabies and rabies-related viruses constitute one of the most important viral …

An appreciation of the risks caused by emergent plant viruses is critical in tropical areas that
rely heavily on agriculture for subsistence and rural livelihood. Molecular ecology, within 10 …

Bats in the EU have been associated with several zoonotic viral pathogens of significance to
both human and animal health. Virus discovery continues to expand the existing …

Rhabdoviruses (family Rhabdoviridae) include a diversity of important pathogens of animals
and plants. They share morphology and genome organization. The understanding of …

Lyssaviruses are RNA viruses with single-strand, negative-sense genomes responsible for
rabies-like diseases in mammals. To date, genomic and evolutionary studies have most …

A tentative novel member of the genus Lyssavirus, designated as Kotalahti bat lyssavirus,
was detected in a Brandt's bat (Myotis brandtii) in Finland. Based on phylogenetic analysis …