Diversity within the VP4 gene of rotavirus P[8] strains: Implications for reverse transcription-PCR genotyping

A degenerate version (1T1-D) of the rotavirus P[8]-specific primer (1T-1) a llowed strains previously untypeable due to the accumulation of point mutat ions at the primer binding site to be P typed by reverse transcription-PCR Sequencing of the cDNA followed by sequence alignment and phylogenetic anal ysis identified lineages and sublineages within the rotavirus P[8] types, w hile the use of 1T-1 or 1T-1D primers did not yield viral clusters in any p articular lineage.