Viruses 2015, 7, 1020-1061; doi:10.3390/v7031020 OPEN ACCESS viruses ISSN 1999-4915 www.mdpi.com/journal/viruses Review Myxoma Virus and the Leporipoxviruses: An Evolutionary Paradigm Peter J. Kerr 1,†,*, June Liu 1, Isabella Cattadori 2, Elodie Ghedin 3, Andrew F. Read 2 and Edward C. Holmes 4 1 CSIRO Biosecurity Flagship, Black Mountain Laboratories, Clunies Ross Street, Acton, ACT 2601, Australia; E-Mail:
[email protected] 2 Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics, Department of Biology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA; E-Mails:
[email protected] (I.C.);
[email protected] (A.F.R.) 3 Center for Genomics and Systems Biology, Department of Biology and Global Institute of Public Health, New York University, New York, NY 10003, USA; E-Mail:
[email protected] 4 Marie Bashir Institute for Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity, Charles Perkins Centre, School of Biological Sciences, and Sydney Medical School, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia; E-Mail:
[email protected] † Current address: School of Biological Sciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia. * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail:
[email protected]; Tel.: +61-2-62464334. Academic Editors: Elliot J. Lefkowitz and Chris Upton Received: 31 December 2014 / Accepted: 26 February 2015 / Published: 6 March 2015 Abstract: Myxoma virus (MYXV) is the type species of the Leporipoxviruses, a genus of Chordopoxvirinae, double stranded DNA viruses, whose members infect leporids and squirrels, inducing cutaneous fibromas from which virus is mechanically transmitted by biting arthropods. However, in the European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus), MYXV causes the lethal disease myxomatosis.