ABSTRACT
Objective To understand the nucleotide and amino acid differences of glycoprotein gene (G gene) between isolated rabies viruses in Henan Province and rabies vaccine strains used for human and animals. Methods G gene sequences of nine rabies viruses isolated from dogs in Xinyang city of Henan Province in December 2006 were amplified by reverse transcriptase (RT)-heminestedpolymerase chain reaction (PCR), and then were cloned and sequenced. The phylogenetic trees were constructed for analyzing the genetic characteristics of these rabies viruses. Results The homology of G gene among the nine isolates from Henan Province was 97.6% - 98.9% at nucleotide level and 99.2%-99.8% at amino acid level. The similarities between these isolates and CTN vaccine strain were 85.6%-93.0% and 91.9%-92.9% at nucleotide and amino acid level, respectively, which were higher than those between these isolates and other vaccine strains (80.4% - 83.3% and 87.7% - 92.5% at nucleotide and amino acid level, respectively). The nine isolates had several amino acid substitutions when compared to other genotype 1 rabies virus strains. Conclusions The nine rabies viruses strains isolated from Henan Province all belong to genotype 1. CTN may be an effective vaccine for preventing rabies in Henan Province.