title: Experimental human rhinovirus and enterovirus interspecies recombination.
abstract: Human rhinoviruses (HRVs) and enteroviruses (HEVs), two important human pathogens, are non-enveloped, positive-sense RNA viruses of the genus Enterovirus within the family Picornaviridae. Intraspecies recombination is known as a driving force for enterovirus and, to a lesser extent, rhinovirus evolution. Interspecies recombination is much less frequent among circulating strains, and supporting evidence for such recombination is limited to ancestral events, as shown by recent phylogenetic analyses reporting ancient HRV-A/HRV-C, HEV-A/HEV-C and HEV-A/HEV-D recombination mainly at the 5'-untranslated region (5' UTR)-polyprotein junction. In this study, chimeric genomes were artificially generated using the 5' UTR from two different clinical HRV-C strains (HRV-Ca and HRV-Cc), an HRV-B strain (HRV-B37) and an HEV-A strain (HEV-A71), and the remaining part of the genome from an HRV-A strain (HRV-A16). Whilst the chimeric viruses were easily propagated in cell culture, the wild-type HRV-A16 retained a replication advantage, both individually and in competition experiments. Assessment of protein synthesis ability did not show a correlation between translation and replication efficiencies. These results reflect the interchangeability of the 5' UTR, including its functional RNA structural elements implicated in both genome translation and replication among different enterovirus species. The 5' UTR-polyprotein junction therefore represents a theoretic interspecies recombination breakpoint. This recombination potential is probably restricted by the need for co-infection opportunities and the requirement for the progeny chimera to outcompete the parental genomes' fitness, explaining the rare occurrence of such events in vivo.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Virology, Division of Infectious Diseases and Division of Laboratory Medicine, University of Geneva Hospitals, 4 Rue Gabrielle-Perret-Gentil, 1211 Geneva 14, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schibler
authors.affiliation: Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP), Dr Bohr-Gasse 7, A-1030 Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gerlach
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Yannick
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Martinez
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Virology, Division of Infectious Diseases and Division of Laboratory Medicine, University of Geneva Hospitals, 4 Rue Gabrielle-Perret-Gentil, 1211 Geneva 14, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Van Belle
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Virology, Division of Infectious Diseases and Division of Laboratory Medicine, University of Geneva Hospitals, 4 Rue Gabrielle-Perret-Gentil, 1211 Geneva 14, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Lara
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Turin
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Virology, Division of Infectious Diseases and Division of Laboratory Medicine, University of Geneva Hospitals, 4 Rue Gabrielle-Perret-Gentil, 1211 Geneva 14, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Laurent
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kaiser
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Virology, Division of Infectious Diseases and Division of Laboratory Medicine, University of Geneva Hospitals, 4 Rue Gabrielle-Perret-Gentil, 1211 Geneva 14, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tapparel
mesh_terms: D020121:5' Untranslated Regions; D002460:Cell Line; D004770:Enterovirus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D010850:Picornaviridae Infections / Q000821:virology*; D011995:Recombination, Genetic; D012229:Rhinovirus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D014779:Virus Replication
chemical_list: D020121:5' Untranslated Regions