title: Complete genome sequencing of a recombinant strain between human astrovirus antigen types 2 and 8 isolated from South Korea.
abstract: Human astroviruses (HAstVs) occur worldwide and are known to the causative agents of diarrhea in infants and elderly patients with immune dysfunction. This study aimed to identify recombinant HAstV strains and characterize rare genotypes. The full-length genome of a recombinant HAstV strain isolated from the stool sample of a patient with acute gastroenteritis from South Korea was amplified using three pairs of previously designed primers and seven newly designed primers. The recombinant HAstV was 6757-bp long and contained three sequential open reading frames (ORFs), designated as ORF1a (2781 bp), ORF1b (1548 bp), and ORF2 (2349 bp). Our findings suggested that a recombination event had occurred between ORF1b and ORF2 of the isolated strain, with a recombination breakpoint at 4081 bp. To our knowledge, this is the first study to reveal the complete nucleotide sequence of a recombinant HAstV strain from South Korea. Our study findings might be useful for identifying other recombinant HAstV strains and for developing vaccines against this pathogenic virus.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, 222, Banpo-daero, Seocho-gu, Seoul 06591, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: hyunju2959@naver.com.
authors.forename: Hyun-Ju
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Ha
authors.affiliation: Korea Zoonosis Research Institute, Chonbuk National University, Iksan 570-390, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: shocklsg@hanmail.net.
authors.forename: Sung-Geun
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Division of Public Health Research, Gyeonggi Province Institute of Health and Environment, Suwon 440-290, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: johangil@gg.go.kr.
authors.forename: Han-Gil
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, 222, Banpo-daero, Seocho-gu, Seoul 06591, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: chaozo@naver.com.
authors.forename: Ji-Young
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, 222, Banpo-daero, Seocho-gu, Seoul 06591, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: ljwwodnd@naver.com.
authors.forename: Jae Woong
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, 222, Banpo-daero, Seocho-gu, Seoul 06591, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: paik@catholic.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Soon-Yong
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Paik
mesh_terms: D000956:Antigens, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D019350:Astroviridae Infections / Q000821:virology; D005243:Feces / Q000821:virology; D005759:Gastroenteritis / Q000821:virology*; D059646:Genome Size; D016679:Genome, Viral; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D001257:Mamastrovirus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification; D016366:Open Reading Frames; D010802:Phylogeny; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D011995:Recombination, Genetic; D056910:Republic of Korea; D017423:Sequence Analysis, RNA / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D000956:Antigens, Viral; D012367:RNA, Viral
keywords: Complete genome sequencing; Gastroenteritis; Human astrovirus; Recombinant; South Korea