Genetic heterogeneity and recombination in canine noroviruses

J Virol. 2009 Nov;83(21):11391-6. doi: 10.1128/JVI.01385-09. Epub 2009 Aug 26.

Abstract

Alphatronlike (genogroup IV [GIV]) noroviruses (NoVs) have been recently identified in carnivores. By screening a collection of 183 fecal samples collected during 2007 from dogs with enteric signs, the overall NoV prevalence was found to be 2.2% (4/183). A unique strain, Bari/91/07/ITA, resembled GIV.2 NoVs in its ORF1 (polymerase complex), while it was genetically unrelated in its full-length ORF2 (capsid gene) to GIV animal and human NoVs (54.0 to 54.4% amino acid identity) and to any other NoV genogroup (<54.7% amino acid identity). It displayed the highest identity (58.1% amino acid identity) to unclassified human strain Chiba/040502/04/Jp. Interestingly, the very 5' end of ORF2 of the canine virus matched short noroviral sequences (88.9% nucleotide identity and 98.9% amino acid identity) identified from oysters in Japan, indicating that similar viruses may be common environmental contaminants.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Animals
  • Base Sequence
  • Caliciviridae Infections / epidemiology
  • Caliciviridae Infections / genetics
  • Caliciviridae Infections / veterinary
  • Capsid Proteins / genetics
  • Dogs
  • Feces / virology
  • Gastroenteritis / epidemiology
  • Gastroenteritis / genetics
  • Gastroenteritis / veterinary
  • Gastroenteritis / virology
  • Genetic Heterogeneity*
  • Humans
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Norovirus / classification
  • Norovirus / genetics*
  • Open Reading Frames
  • Phylogeny
  • Recombination, Genetic*

Substances

  • Capsid Proteins