Ea. Palombo et Rf. Bishop, GENETIC-ANALYSIS OF NSP1 GENES OF HUMAN ROTAVIRUSES ISOLATED FROM NEONATES WITH ASYMPTOMATIC INFECTION, Journal of General Virology, 75, 1994, pp. 3635-3639
The nucleotide sequences of the genomic RNA segments 5 (gene 5) encodi
ng the non-structural protein NSP1 of rotavirus strains M37 and ST3, i
solated from neonates with asymptomatic infection, were determined. Th
e sequences were similar overall (95 % identity) as were the deduced a
mino acid sequences of NSP1 (93 %). However, the M37 and ST3 NSP1 prot
eins shared only 82 % and 81 % identity, respectively, with the corres
ponding protein from another strain isolated from a neonate with asymp
tomatic infection (I321). Differences (of between 15 % and 31 %) were
found in comparison with NSP1 sequences of rotaviruses isolated from o
lder children with symptomatic infection (Wa, DS1 and IGV-80-3). Using
an M37 gene 5-derived probe, Northern hybridization analysis of total
genomic RNA extracted from viruses isolated from older children (Wa,
RV4, RV5 and P) and neonates (M37, ST3, RV3 and 1076), representatives
of the most common human G and P types, further indicated that while
the gene 5 alleles of strains M37, ST3 and RV3 had a high degree of id
entity, no significant identity between 1076 and M37 was observed. In
addition, cross-hybridization between the M37 probe and RNA of strains
from older children (Wa: RV4 and P) was evident. Thus, neonatal human
rotavirus strains do not carry a common NSP1 gene.