title: Molecular characterization of new emerging GII.17 norovirus strains from South China.
abstract: Noroviruses are still the primary cause of non-bacterial acute gastroenteritis worldwide. Recently, a novel GII.17 norovirus variant emerged and caused an infection peak in the cold season of 2014/2015 in some Asian countries, including China. In this study, in order to understand the evolutionary advantage of the novel variant, complete genomic sequences of GII.17 NoV strains from South China were comprehensively analyzed. Pairwise alignments of new GII.17 genomes with representative sequences of each GII genotype were performed. Inconsistent homology was observed between different protein-encoding regions, of which VPg (NS5) and P2 were found to be the most conserved and variable ones, respectively. The differences between new sequences and other reported GII.17 genomes were also compared, and 84 mismatched nucleotides were found, resulting in 15 amino acid changes. Then, all capsid sequences of different GII.17 NoV variants were collected for multiple alignments, and a total of 87 spots were identified during their evolution process. Homology modeling of capsid proteins of four GII.17 variants was carried out based on comparison with GII.4 VA387 strain, and structural differences were mainly embodied in five extended loops. Furthermore, positions of potential conformational epitope regions of new GII.17 variants were found more similar or adjacent to those of GII.4 rather than those of the former GII.17 variants. In summary, nine GII.17 strains from South China were extensively characterized based on their complete genomes, and a different distribution pattern of epitope residues was predicted on the new GII.17 variant capsid from that of the former ones.
authors.affiliation: Guangdong Institute of Microbiology, State Key Laboratory of Applied Microbiology Southern China, Guangzhou 510070, PR China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Microbial Culture Collection and Application, Guangdong Open Laboratory of Applied Microbiology, Guangzhou 510070, PR China.
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xue
authors.affiliation: Guangdong Institute of Microbiology, State Key Laboratory of Applied Microbiology Southern China, Guangzhou 510070, PR China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Microbial Culture Collection and Application, Guangdong Open Laboratory of Applied Microbiology, Guangzhou 510070, PR China. Electronic address: wuqp203@163.com.
authors.forename: Qingping
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Guangdong Institute of Microbiology, State Key Laboratory of Applied Microbiology Southern China, Guangzhou 510070, PR China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Microbial Culture Collection and Application, Guangdong Open Laboratory of Applied Microbiology, Guangzhou 510070, PR China.
authors.forename: Weicheng
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.affiliation: Guangdong Institute of Microbiology, State Key Laboratory of Applied Microbiology Southern China, Guangzhou 510070, PR China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Microbial Culture Collection and Application, Guangdong Open Laboratory of Applied Microbiology, Guangzhou 510070, PR China.
authors.forename: Jumei
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Guangdong Institute of Microbiology, State Key Laboratory of Applied Microbiology Southern China, Guangzhou 510070, PR China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Microbial Culture Collection and Application, Guangdong Open Laboratory of Applied Microbiology, Guangzhou 510070, PR China.
authors.forename: Weipeng
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Guo
mesh_terms: D036022:Capsid Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics; D002681:China; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D014644:Genetic Variation; D016679:Genome, Viral; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008958:Models, Molecular; D029322:Norovirus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D010802:Phylogeny; D011487:Protein Conformation; D017423:Sequence Analysis, RNA / Q000379:methods*; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid
chemical_list: D036022:Capsid Proteins
keywords: Comparative analysis; GII.17 Kawasaki 2014; Genome; Homology modeling; Norovirus; Spatial epitopes