title: Genomic concatemerization/deletion in rotaviruses: a new mechanism for generating rapid genetic change of potential epidemiological importance.
abstract: Three variants of group A rotavirus with large changes in their gene 5 structures have been analyzed at the molecular level. The first of these, P9 delta 5, was obtained during plaque purification undertaken as part of the biological cloning of a field isolate of virus. The gene 5 homolog in this isolate migrated just ahead of the normal segment 6 RNA, giving an estimated size of 1,300 bp. Molecular cloning and sequencing of this homolog revealed it to have a single 308-bp deletion in the center of the normal gene 5 sequence extending between nucleotides 460 and 768 of the normal gene sequence. This deletion caused a frameshift in the gene such that a stop codon was encountered 8 amino acids downstream of the deletion point, giving a predicted size for the protein product of this gene of 150 amino acids compared with the 490 amino acids of its normal-size counterpart. Attempts to detect this shortened protein in virus-infected cells were not successful, indicating that it was much less stable than the full-length protein and/or had suffered a large change in its antigenicity. The second two variants, brvA and brvE, were generated in an earlier study following the high-multiplicity passage of the UKtc strain of bovine rotavirus. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis analysis of these nondefective variants showed that brvA had a gene 5 homolog approximately equal in size to the normal RNA segment 2 (approximately 2,700 bp) and that brvE had a size of approximately 2,300 bp. Both variants showed changes in their gene 5 protein products, with brvA mimicking P9 delta 5 in failing to produce a detectable product whereas brvE produced a new virus-specific protein approximately 80 kDa in size. Full-length cDNA clones of the brvE gene 5 homolog were isolated, and analysis of their structure revealed a head-to-tail concatemerization of the normal gene 5 sequence with the first copy of the concatemer covering nucleotides 1 to 808 and the second covering nucleotides 92 to 1579, giving a total length of 2,296 bp. Sequencing across the junction region of the two copies of the gene showed that they were joined in frame to give a predicted combined open reading frame of 728 amino acids with the amino-terminal region consisting of amino acids 1 to 258 fused at the carboxy terminus to amino acids 21 to 490.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Warwick, Coventry, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Tarlow
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ballard
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Desselberger
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: McCrae
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002417:Cattle / Q000382:microbiology; D002460:Cell Line; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D017931:DNA Primers; D015321:Gene Rearrangement; D005814:Genes, Viral; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D012401:Rotavirus / Q000235:genetics*; D017384:Sequence Deletion; D015678:Viral Structural Proteins / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D012367:RNA, Viral; D015678:Viral Structural Proteins