A novel genotype of hepatitis E virus prevalent among farmed rabbits in China.
In total, 335 serum samples were collected from rabbits from two farms in Gansu province, China, and tested for anti-hepatitis E virus (HEV) antibody using EIA and for HEV RNA using nested RT- PCR with ORF2 primers. The overall prevalence of anti-HEV antibody and HEV RNA was 57.0% (191/335) and 7.5% (25/335), respectively. The positivity rate of HEV RNA in the anti-HEV antibody negative group (7.6% (11/144)) did not differ significantly from that in the positive group (7.3% (14/191)). The concordance between HEV RNA and anti-HEV antibody was 43.3% with no significant correlation (P < 0.05). All 25 amplicons from the ORF2 region were cloned and sequenced. On the basis of nucleotide sequence comparison, they had 84-99% identity to each other and 73-77%, 70-76%, 75-82%, 71-77%, and 53-65% with the corresponding regions of genotypes 1, 2, 3, 4, and avian HEV, respectively. Samples that were positive with the ORF2 primers were amplified using ORF1 region primers; 17 were positive and shared 71-78%, 73-76%, 74-82%, 72-78%, and 39-58% identity with the corresponding regions of genotypes 1, 2, 3, 4, and avian HEV, respectively, at the nucleotide level. Two representative full-length sequences were determined. These two sequences shared 85% identity with each other and had 74%, 73%, 78-79%, 74-75%, and 46-47% identity to full-length genotypes 1, 2, 3, 4, and avian HEV, respectively. Thus, the sequences isolated from the rabbits represent a novel genotype of HEV. This study provides novel information about HEV genotypes infecting rabbits as well as evidence of a new mammalian genotype of HEV.
Zhao
Chenyan
C
Department of Cell Biology, National Institute for the Control of Pharmaceutical and Biological Products, Beijing, China.
Ma
Zhongren
Z
Harrison
Tim J
TJ
Feng
Ruofei
R
Zhang
Chuntao
C
Qiao
Zilin
Z
Fan
Jinping
J
Ma
Hongxia
H
Li
Mingsheng
M
Song
Aijing
A
Wang
Youchun
Y
D000818:Animals; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D016679:Genome, Viral; D005838:Genotype; D006508:Hepatitis Antibodies / Q000097:blood; D016751:Hepatitis E / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology; D016752:Hepatitis E virus / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics; D011817:Rabbits / Q000821:virology*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017385:Sequence Homology
D006508:Hepatitis Antibodies; D012367:RNA, Viral