title: Intertypic recombination of human parechovirus 4 isolated from infants with sepsis-like disease.
abstract: Human parechoviruses (HPeVs) (family Picornaviridae), are common pathogens in young children. Despite their high prevalence, research on their genetic identity, diversity and evolution have remained scarce.
  
  
  
  Complete coding regions of three previously reported HPeV-4 isolates from Finnish children with sepsis-like disease were sequenced in order to elucidate the phylogenetic relationships and potential recombination events during the evolution of these isolates.
  
  
  
  The isolated viruses were sequenced and aligned with all HPeV complete genome sequences available in GenBank. Phylogenetic trees were constructed and similarity plot and bootscanning methods were used for recombination analysis.
  
  
  
  The three HPeV-4 isolates had 99.8% nucleotide sequence similarity. The phylogenetic analysis indicated that capsid-encoding sequences of these HPeV-4 isolates were closely related to other HPeV-4 strains (80.7-94.7% nucleotide similarity), whereas their non-structural region genes 2A to 3C clustered together with several HPeV-1 and HPeV-3 strains, in addition to the HPeV-4 strain K251176-02 (isolated 2002 in the Netherlands), but not with other HPeV-4 strains. However, in 3D-encoding sequence the Finnish HPeV-4 isolates did not cluster with the strain HPeV-4/K251176-02, but instead, formed a distinct group together with several HPeV-1 and HPeV-3 strains. Similarity plot and Bootscan analyses further confirmed intertypic recombination events in the evolution of the Finnish HPeV-4 isolates.
  
  
  
  Intertypic recombination event(s) have occurred during the evolution of HPeV-4 isolates from children with sepsis-like disease. However, due to the low number of parechovirus complete genomes available, the precise recombination partners could not be detected. The results suggest frequent intratypic recombination among parechoviruses.
authors.affiliation: Department of Virology, University of Turku, Kiinamyllynkatu 13, 20520, Turku, Finland; Department of Virology, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, Haartmaninkatu 3, 00290, Helsinki, Finland. Electronic address: pjkolehm@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Pekka
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kolehmainen
authors.affiliation: Department of Virology, University of Turku, Kiinamyllynkatu 13, 20520, Turku, Finland. Electronic address: aesipo@utu.fi.
authors.forename: Anu
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Siponen
authors.affiliation: Department of Virology, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, Haartmaninkatu 3, 00290, Helsinki, Finland. Electronic address: teemu.smura@helsinki.fi.
authors.forename: Teemu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Smura
authors.affiliation: Department of Virology, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, Haartmaninkatu 3, 00290, Helsinki, Finland; Department of Virology and Immunology, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, HUSLAB, Topeliuksenkatu 32, 00290, Helsinki, Finland. Electronic address: hannimari.kallio-kokko@helsinki.fi.
authors.forename: Hannimari
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kallio-Kokko
authors.affiliation: Department of Virology, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, Haartmaninkatu 3, 00290, Helsinki, Finland; Department of Virology and Immunology, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, HUSLAB, Topeliuksenkatu 32, 00290, Helsinki, Finland; Department of Veterinary Biosciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Helsinki, Agnes Sjöbergin katu 2, 00790, Helsinki, Finland. Electronic address: olli.vapalahti@helsinki.fi.
authors.forename: Olli
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Vapalahti
authors.affiliation: Department of Virology, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, Haartmaninkatu 3, 00290, Helsinki, Finland; Department of Virology and Immunology, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, HUSLAB, Topeliuksenkatu 32, 00290, Helsinki, Finland. Electronic address: anne.jaaskelainen@helsinki.fi.
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jääskeläinen
authors.affiliation: Department of Virology, University of Turku, Kiinamyllynkatu 13, 20520, Turku, Finland. Electronic address: sisko.tauriainen@utu.fi.
authors.forename: Sisko
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tauriainen
mesh_terms: D016000:Cluster Analysis; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland; D016679:Genome, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D030061:Parechovirus / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D010802:Phylogeny; D010850:Picornaviridae Infections / Q000821:virology*; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D011995:Recombination, Genetic; D018805:Sepsis / Q000821:virology*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D012367:RNA, Viral
keywords: Complete coding sequence; HPeV-4; Human parechovirus; Phylogenetic analysis; Recombination; Sepsis-like disease