DQA alleles (residues 8–76) of <i>Lepus europaeus.</i>

<p>DQA alleles (residues 8–76) of <i>Lepus europaeus.</i> Polymorphic residues are in bold. Residues contributing to the formation of binding pockets P1, P6 and P9 are indicated. Shaded residues are putative TCR contacts. Crosses indicate residues with hydrogen bonds to the peptide. The boxed area determines αβ pairing.</p

Groups of Danish brown hares individuals according to the presence of EBHSV and the variation in exon 2 DQA gene.

<p>Numbers (N) and percentages of Danish brown hares assessed for the four groups defined in this study: EBHSV negative (EBHSV⁻), EBHSV positive (EBHSV⁺), susceptible (EBHSV⁺ Dead), resistant (EBHSV⁺ not Dead).</p

Phylogenetic tree of the EBHSV isolates.

<p>Phylogenetic tree resulting from the Bayesian analysis, clustering the seven Danish isolates identified in this study combined with sequences available from the EMBL database. The topology of the clusters was similar for the NJ tree. Numbers on branches at the internodes of the clusters correspond to posterior probabilities from the Bayesian analysis. At the end of the branches the designation and origin of the EBHS viruses studied. Probabilities below 50% are omitted.</p

Percentages indicating the occurrence of the homogygous and heterozygous <i>DQA</i> genotypes.

<p>Percentages indicating the occurrence of the homogygous and heterozygous <i>DQA</i> genotypes in the four groups of <i>Lepus europaeus</i> sampled in Denmark. Bars indicate the occurrence of each genotype in non affected or affected animals. Pies above bars indicate the occurrence of each genotype among the affected <i>L. europeaus</i> individuals in susceptible animals found dead with lesions typical to the EBHS in various organs or resistant not dead animals.</p

Location map of EBHSV positive <i>Lepus europaeus</i> individuals.

<p>Location map of the 65 <i>Lepus europaeus</i> individuals sampled throughout Denmark that were affected by the virus of the European Brown Hare Syndrome (EBHSV).</p

UPGMA phylogenetic tree of the eight <i>Lepus europaeus</i> DQA exon 2 alleles.

<p>UPGMA phylogenetic tree resulting from the analysis of the eight <i>Lepus europaeus</i> DQA exon 2 alleles identified in this study, together with sequences assessed in the study of Koutsogiannouli et al. 2009 available from GenBank. Numbers indicate the percentage bootstrap support (10000 replicates). The evolutionary distances were computed using the maximum composite likelihood method and are in the units of the number of base substitutions per site. The populations in which each allele was present are given abbreviated in parentheses. (The neighbour-joining tree produced similar results with comparable bootstrap values).</p