title: Re-emergence of a GII.4 Norovirus Sydney 2012 Variant Equipped with GII.P16 RdRp and Its Predominance over Novel Variants of GII.17 in South Korea in 2016.
abstract: Noroviruses are major causative pathogen of nonbacterial acute gastroenteritis worldwide. Of the seven genogroups of noroviruses suggested recently, genogroup II genotype 4 (GII.4) had been the most common genotype identified in hospitalized patients in the last few decades. However, since the latter half of 2014, new variants of GII.17 have been reported as the main causes of outbreaks over GII.4 in East Asia and have also occurred in America and Europe. In this study, we monitored norovirus GII in coastal streams at South Gyeongsang province and South Jeolla province of South Korea from March 2015 to May 2016. Norovirus GII.17 capsid sequences were predominantly detected until September 2015 in water samples. However, we found that the number of positive cases of the norovirus GII.4 Sydney 2012 capsid sequence has been increasing since December 2015, overtaking that of GII.17 in 2016. The RdRp genotype of this predominant GII.4 variant in 2016 was identified as GII.P16. The emergence and predominance of the GII.4 pandemic capsid sequence harboring a different RdRp genotype suggested the potential for a future pandemic.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, College of Sciences, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Yong Seon
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, College of Sciences, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Eung Seo
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Koo
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, College of Sciences, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Man Su
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Seafood Science and Technology, Institute of Marine Industry, Gyeongsang National University, Tongyeong, Gyeongnam, South Korea.
authors.forename: Jong Duck
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Engineering & Biotechnology, Mokpo National Maritime University, Mokpo, South Korea.
authors.forename: Yongsik
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, College of Sciences, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Republic of Korea. ysjeong@khu.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Yong Seok
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Jeong
mesh_terms: D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D017250:Caliciviridae Infections / Q000821:virology*; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D005759:Gastroenteritis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D029322:Norovirus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000502:physiology; D010802:Phylogeny; D056910:Republic of Korea / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: GII.4; GII.P16; Norovirus; RdRp; Viral surveillance