GENETIC-VARIATION IN THE VP7 GENE OF HUMAN ROTAVIRUS SEROTYPE-3 (G3 TYPE) ISOLATED IN CHINA AND JAPAN

Sequence analysis of the VP7 gene was performed on twenty-one human is olates of serotype 3 related-rotavirus in China and Japan. The five Ch inese isolates were found to be not similar to the 16 Japanese isolate s and to SA11 (simian rotavirus). The Chinese isolates, especially CHW 2 and CH-32, were different from the major serotype 3 human isolates. AU-1 and 02/92 which previously showed a wider spacing between RNA seg ments 10 and 11 by RNA polyacrylamide gel electrophoretic analysis, we re more closely related to each other and could be differentiated from the other Chinese and Japanese isolates. For these reasons, serotype 3 viruses were considered to be intra-serotypically more heterologous than serotype 1, 2 and 4 viruses.