title: Genetic variation in the capsid region of human astrovirus serotype 4 isolated in Japan.
abstract: The entire capsid regions of 12 serotype-4 astroviruses from Japan were sequenced and compared with those of other serotypes. Serotype-4 isolates were divided into two new subgroups. The intrasubgroup nucleic acid and deduced amino acid sequences were quite homologous (more than 93%), but slightly less so between subgroups (almost 85%). However, the serotype-4 sequences differed from those of serotypes 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 and 8 (less than 50%). Determining whether these differences significantly alter the epidemiology and antigenicity will require further investigation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Developmental Medical Sciences, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hachiya
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Matsui
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sanogo
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Oseto
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Morooka
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ushijima
mesh_terms: D002213:Capsid / Q000235:genetics*; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D001257:Mamastrovirus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D012703:Serotyping
chemical_list: D012367:RNA, Viral