Gastroenteritis Outbreaks Caused by a DS-1–like G1P[8] Rotavirus Strain, Japan, 2012–2013 - Volume 20, Number 6—June 2014 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal - CDC

full-text ►

Gastroenteritis Outbreaks Caused by a DS-1–like G1P[8] Rotavirus Strain, Japan, 2012–2013 - Volume 20, Number 6—June 2014 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal - CDC

Volume 20, Number 6—June 2014

Dispatch

Gastroenteritis Outbreaks Caused by a DS-1–like G1P[8] Rotavirus Strain, Japan, 2012–2013

Article Contents

• The Study
• Conclusions
• Acknowledgment
• References
• Figure
• Table 1
• Table 2
• Suggested Citation

Seiji P. Yamamoto , Atsushi Kaida, Hideyuki Kubo, and Nobuhiro Iritani

Author affiliations: Osaka City Institute of Public Health and Environmental Sciences, Osaka, Japan

Suggested citation for this article

Abstract

Rotavirus A (RVA) genotype G1P[8], a hallmark of the Wa-like strain, typically contains only genotype 1 genes. However, an unusual RVA G1P[8] with genotype 2 genes was recently detected in Japan. We determined the complete genomic constellation of this RVA. Our findings suggest that mixed RVAs may be more competitive than once thought.

It is estimated that rotavirus A (RVA), the leading cause of severe gastroenteritis in children worldwide, causes >500,000 deaths among children each year, primarily in developing countries (1). Genes of viral protein (VP) 7 and VP4 form the basis of a dual classification system that defines the RVA G- and P-types, respectively. Five G-types (G1–4 and G9) and 3 P-types (P[4], P[6], and P[8]) represent most of the G-P–combined RVA strains (2). RVAs are classified on the basis of a system that assigns a specific type to each of the 11 RNA gene segments, according to established nucleotide percentage cutoff values (3).

Two well-known RVA prototype strains are Wa (G1-P[8]-I1-R1-C1-M1-A1-N1-T1-E1-H1) and DS-1 (G2-P[4]-I2-R2-C2-M2-A2-N2-T2-E2-H2). RVAs G1P[8], G3P[8], G4P[8], and G9P[8] are pure Wa genogroup members because they have a Wa-like constellation (Gx-P[x]-I1-R1-C1-M1-A1-N1-T1-E1-H1) composed of genotype 1 genes; G2P[4] is a pure DS-1 genogroup member because it has a DS-1–like constellation (Gx-P[x]-I2-R2-C2-M2-A2-N2-T2-E2-H2) composed of genotype 2 genes (4). The segmented nature of RVA genomes enables them to undergo gene reassortment during co-infection in 1 cell, leading to the emergence of progeny viruses containing mixed segments from >2 different parental strains. However, some human RVA G/P-types have a purely Wa-like or a DS-1–like genome constellation. Mixed viruses are rarely detected and have a low prevalence, even if they emerge; thus, it is believed that mixed viruses may be less fit than parental strains and unable to compete with them (5).

We identified and characterized a prevalent genotype G1P[8] RVA with genotype 2 genes. The RVA was detected during rotavirus gastroenteritis outbreaks in Japan.

Dr Yamamoto is a research scientist at Osaka City Institute of Public Health and Environmental Sciences. His research interests include the molecular biology and molecular epidemiology of gastroenteritis viruses.

Acknowledgment

We thank Niichiro Abe, Kaoru Goto, and Atsushi Hase for supporting our work. We are also grateful to Peter Gee for proofreading and commenting on the manuscript.

References

1. Parashar UD, Burton A, Lanata C, Boschi-Pinto C, Shibuya K, Steele D, Global mortality associated with rotavirus disease among children in 2004. J Infect Dis. 2009;200(Suppl 1):S9–15. DOIPubMed
2. O’Ryan M. The ever-changing landscape of rotavirus serotypes. Pediatr Infect Dis J.2009;28(Suppl):S60–2. DOIPubMed
3. Matthijnssens J, Ciarlet M, Rahman M, Attoui H, Banyai K, Estes MK, Recommendations for the classification of group A rotaviruses using all 11 genomic RNA segments. Arch Virol. 2008;153:1621–9. DOIPubMed
4. Matthijnssens J, Ciarlet M, Heiman E, Arijs I, Delbeke T, McDonald SM, Full genome-based classification of rotaviruses reveals a common origin between human Wa-like and porcine rotavirus strains and human DS-1–like and bovine rotavirus strains. J Virol.2008;82:3204–19. DOIPubMed
5. McDonald SM, Matthijnssens J, McAllen JK, Hine E, Overton L, Wang S, Evolutionary dynamics of human rotaviruses: balancing reassortment with preferred genome constellations. PLoS Pathog. 2009;5:e1000634. DOIPubMed
6. Fujii Y, Shimoike T, Takagi H, Murakami K, Todaka-Takai R, Park Y, Amplification of all 11 RNA segments of group A rotaviruses based on reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. Microbiol Immunol. 2012;56:630–8 . DOIPubMed
7. Maes P, Matthijnssens J, Rahman M, Van Ranst M. RotaC: a web-based tool for the complete genome classification of group A rotaviruses. BMC Microbiol. 2009;9:238 and. DOIPubMed
8. Tamura K, Peterson D, Peterson N, Stecher G, Nei M, Kumar S. MEGA5: Molecular Evolutionary Genetics Analysis using maximum likelihood, evolutionary distance, and maximum parsimony methods. Mol Biol Evol. 2011;28:2731–9 and. DOIPubMed
9. Aoki ST, Settembre EC, Trask SD, Greenberg HB, Harrison SC, Dormitzer PR. Structure of rotavirus outer-layer protein VP7 bound with a neutralizing Fab. Science.2009;324:1444–7 and. DOIPubMed
10. Zeller M, Patton JT, Heylen E, De Coster S, Ciarlet M, Van Ranst M, Genetic analyses reveal differences in the VP7 and VP4 antigenic epitopes between human rotaviruses circulating in Belgium and rotaviruses in Rotarix and RotaTeq. J Clin Microbiol.2012;50:966–76 and. DOIPubMed
11. Kuzuya M, Fujii R, Hamano M, Kida K, Mizoguchi Y, Kanadani T, Prevalence and molecular characterization of G1P[8] human rotaviruses possessing DS-1-like VP6, NSP4, and NSP5/6 in Japan. J Med Virol. 2013. Epub 2013 Sep 16.

Figure

• Figure. Maximum-likelihood phylograms of the viral protein (VP) 7 (877 bp) (A), VP4 (656 bp) (B), and VP6 (1,132 bp) (C) regions of rotavirus A strains detected during outbreaks in Osaka...

Tables

• Table 1. Description of RVA–associated outbreaks in Osaka City, Japan, during 2009–2013
• Table 2. Nucleotide sequence identity of various RVA strains to RVA DS-1–like G1P[8] strain HC12016, which was detected during an outbreak in Osaka City, Japan, 2012

Suggested citation for this article: Yamamoto SP, Kaida A, Kubo H, Iritani N. Gastroenteritis outbreaks caused by a DS-1–like G1P[8] rotavirus strain, Japan, 2012–2013. Emerg Infect Dis. 2014 June [date cited]. http://dx.doi.org/10.3201/eid2006.131326

DOI: 10.3201/eid2006.131326