[Study on the molecular characteristic of natural infection of rodents with Hantaviruses in Shenzhen city].
OBJECTIVE
In order to investigate Hantavirus (HV) infection of captured rodents and to understand the genotypes and the molecular characteristic of Hantaviruses in Shenzhen.


METHODS
The captured rodents were classified and the density of distribution was calculated. A total of 472 animals were captured, among which Rattus norvegicus was the dominant group. The total viral RNA was extracted from the lung tissues positive with HV antigens by immunofluorescent assay and gene sequence of M fragment was amplified with RT-nested-PCR by using the Hantavirus genotype specific primers. The amplified genes were then sequenced, and subjected to genotyping and homology analysis.


RESULTS
The results of genotype analysis showed that the Hantaviruses taken from twenty-one lung specimens in Rattus norvegicus in Shenzhen city belonged to the Hantavirus type II (SEOV). Results in homology analysis suggested that the homology among twenty-one samples should be rather high with 95.4% of nucleotide sequence identity and they belonged to the same subtype. Phylogenetic tree analysis showed that they were branched into at least six different lineages, and were highly homologized with SZ2083. We also found that these virus strains had not shown more highly homology of nucleotide sequence in nearest district, whereas revealed consistency in farther district.


CONCLUSIONS
The major hosts of Hantaviruses in Shenzhen city were Rattus norvegicus and the epidemic strains were genotyped as SEO-type. Nucleotide sequence and deduced amino acid sequence from different rodents were highly homologous, while nucleotide mutation had also been observed. Further studies are required to explore the possible viruses' sequence mutation.
Liu
Jian-jun
JJ
Division of Microbiological Testing, Shenzhen Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Shenzhen, China. junii8@126.com
Yang
Fan
F
He
Jian-fan
JF
Zhang
Xiao-lan
XL
Liang
Zhuo-nan
ZN
Zhang
Shun-xiang
SX
Zhang
Hai-long
HL
Yang
Hong
H
D000818:Animals; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D017931:DNA Primers; D004279:DNA, Viral; D005838:Genotype; D006476:Orthohantavirus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D018778:Hantavirus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012367:RNA, Viral; D051381:Rats; D012376:Rodent Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology*; D017385:Sequence Homology
D017931:DNA Primers; D004279:DNA, Viral; D012367:RNA, Viral