title: Identification of a novel Getah virus by Virus-Discovery-cDNA random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD).
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The identification of new virus strains is important for the study of infectious disease, but current (or existing) molecular biology methods are limited since the target sequence must be known to design genome-specific PCR primers. Thus, we developed a new method for the discovery of unknown viruses based on the cDNA--random amplified polymorphic DNA (cDNA-RAPD) technique. Getah virus, belonging to the family Togaviridae in the genus Alphavirus, is a mosquito-borne enveloped RNA virus that was identified using the Virus-Discovery-cDNA RAPD (VIDISCR) method.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A novel Getah virus was identified by VIDISCR from suckling mice exposed to mosquitoes (Aedes albopictus) collected in Yunnan Province, China. The non-structural protein gene, nsP3, the structural protein gene, the capsid protein gene, and the 3'-untranslated region (UTR) of the novel Getah virus isolate were cloned and sequenced. Nucleotide sequence identities of each gene were determined to be 97.1-99.3%, 94.9-99.4%, and 93.6-99.9%, respectively, when compared with the genomes of 10 other representative strains of Getah virus.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The VIDISCR method was able to identify known virus isolates and a novel isolate of Getah virus from infected mice. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that the YN08 isolate was more closely related to the Hebei HB0234 strain than the YN0540 strain, and more genetically distinct from the MM2021 Malaysia primitive strain.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Chengdu Military Region, Kunming 650032, China.
authors.forename: Tingsong
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Gangshan
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Qiu
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Qinghua
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.forename: Yiyin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Chaoxiong
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Xiaofang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Ziliang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.forename: Weiguo
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Quanshui
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.forename: Fuqiang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000330:Aedes / Q000821:virology*; D000524:Alphavirus / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D018354:Alphavirus Infections / Q000821:virology*; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D002681:China; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000235:genetics*; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D019105:Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA Technique / Q000379:methods*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D014773:Virology / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D018076:DNA, Complementary; D004279:DNA, Viral; D014764:Viral Proteins