title: Identification of genotype 3 hepatitis E virus in fecal samples from a pig farm located in a Shanghai suburb.
abstract: Strains of hepatitis E virus (HEV) genotypes 1 and 4 have been detected on the Chinese mainland although there have been no previous reports of zoonotic genotype 3 HEV. In the present study, 65 swine fecal specimens were collected from five pig farms located in different Shanghai suburbs. RT-PCR and nested PCR were undertaken using partial nucleotide sequences of Open Reading Frame 2 (ORF2) of HEV to detect HEV RNA. Genetic analysis was based on alignments of an amplified 150-nt ORF2 sequence. RT-PCR revealed 15 HEV positive samples among 65-pig fecal specimens examined. Phylogenetic analysis of the amplified sequences indicated seven HEV strains belonged to genotype 3 and eight strains to genotype 4. This is the first time that genotype 3 hepatitis E virus has been identified on the Chinese mainland.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shanghai 201106, China.
authors.forename: Haiqiang
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ning
authors.forename: Zhongxiang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Niu
authors.forename: Ruisong
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Peihua
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Shijuan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.forename: Zhen
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002681:China; D005243:Feces / Q000821:virology; D005838:Genotype; D016751:Hepatitis E / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology; D016752:Hepatitis E virus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D010802:Phylogeny; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000662:veterinary; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013383:Suburban Population; D013552:Swine; D013553:Swine Diseases / Q000821:virology*
chemical_list: D012367:RNA, Viral