Evolutionary dynamics of recent peste des petits ruminants virus epidemic in China during 2013-2014

•First in-depth evolutionary dynamics of PPRV during an epidemic.•The evolutionary rate of PPRV is estimated at 2.61 × 10-6 nt substitutions/site/day.•The origin of PPRV China 2013-2014 strains is dated to early August 2013.•The PPRV China 2013-2014 strains could be grouped into five clusters of infection.

Peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV) causes a highly contagious disease, peste des petits ruminants (PPR), in sheep and goats which has been considered as a serious threat to the local economy in Africa and Asia. However, the in-depth evolutionary dynamics of PPRV during an epidemic is not well understood. We conducted phylogenetic analysis on genomic sequences of 25 PPRV strains from China 2013-2014 outbreaks. All these strains clustered into a novel clade in lineage 4. An evolutionary rate of 2.61 × 10−6 nucleotide substitutions per site per day was estimated, dating the most recent common ancestor of PPRV China 2013-2014 strains to early August 2013. Transmission network analysis revealed that all the virus sequences could be grouped into five clusters of infection, suggesting long-distance animal transmission play an important role in the spread of PPRV in China. These results expanded our knowledge for PPRV evolution to achieve effective control measures.