Rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus Lagovirus europaeus/GI.1d strain: genome sequencing, in vivo virus replication kinetics, and viral dose effect.

These results provide a better understanding of GI.1d/RHDV infection in rabbits. The genome analysis showed a newly observed mutation in the 5' untranslated region of a lagovirus, whose role remains unknown. The phenotypic analysis showed that the pathogenicity of GI.1d/00-21 and the replication kinetics in infected organs were close to those reported for the original GI.1 strains, and could not alone explain the observed selective advantage of the GI.1d strains. Determining the minimum dose of viral particles required to cause mortality in rabbits is an important input for in vivo studies.