title: Frequent rearrangement may explain the structural heterogeneity in the 11th genome segment of lapine rotaviruses - short communication.
abstract: In rotaviruses, intragenic recombination or gene rearrangement occurs almost exclusively in the genome segments encoding for non-structural proteins. Rearranged RNA originates by mechanisms of partial sequence duplications and deletions or insertions of non-templated nucleotides. Of interest, epidemiological investigations have pointed out an unusual bias to rearrangements in genome segment 11, notably in rotavirus strains of lapine origin, as evidenced by the detection of numerous lapine strains with super-short genomic electropherotype. The sequence of the full-length genome segment 11 of two lapine strains with super-short electropherotype, LRV-4 and 3489/3, was determined and compared with rearranged and normal cognate genome segments of lapine rotaviruses. The rearranged genome segments contained head-to-tail partial duplications at the 3' end of the main ORF encoding NSP5. Unlike the strains Alabama and B4106, intermingled stretches of non-templated sequences were not present in the accessory RNA of LRV-4 and 3489/3, while multiple deletions were mapped, suggesting the lack of functional constraints. Altogether, these findings suggest that independent rearrangement events have given origin to the various lapine strains that have super-short genome pattern.
authors.affiliation: Veterinary Medical Research Institute, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Hungária krt. 21, H-1143 Budapest, Hungary. bkrota@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Krisztián
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bányai
authors.forename: Jelle
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Matthijnssens
authors.forename: György
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Szücs
authors.forename: Petra
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Forgách
authors.forename: Károly
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Erdélyi
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: van Ranst
authors.forename: Eleonora
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lorusso
authors.forename: Nicola
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Decaro
authors.forename: Gabriella
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Elia
authors.forename: Vito
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Martella
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D015321:Gene Rearrangement; D005814:Genes, Viral; D016679:Genome, Viral; D011817:Rabbits; D012401:Rotavirus / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics*; D012400:Rotavirus Infections / Q000662:veterinary / Q000821:virology