THE VP3 GENE OF HUMAN GROUP-C ROTAVIRUS

The complete nucleotide sequence of genome segment 4 from the human gr oup C rotavirus (Bristol strain) was determined. Comparison of the nuc leotide sequences of the genome termini with the consensus 5' and 3' t erminal non-coding sequences of the human group C rotavirus genome rev ealed characteristic 5' and 3' sequence motifs. Human group C rotaviru s genome segment 4 is 2,166bp long and encodes a single open reading f rame of 2,082 nucleotides (693 amino acids) starting at nucleotide 55 and terminating at nucleotide 2,136 giving a 3' untranslated region of 30 nucleotides. Alignment with the porcine group C VP3 equivalent gen e showed the human gene is one amino acid longer, and that the protein s have 84.1% amino acid sequence identity. A conserved potential nucle otide binding motif shared with the porcine VP3 sequence was identifie d. Analogy with the group A rotaviruses suggested that the genome segm ent 4 encodes the group C rotavirus guanylyltransferase.