Capsid diversity in small round-structured viruses: molecular characterization of an antigenically distinct human enteric calicivirus.
Studies of antigenic variation between small round-structured viruses (SRSVs) using immune electron microscopy have revealed 3 antigenic types currently circulating in the UK represented by the strains SRSV/Bri/93/ UK, SRSV/Sot/91/ UK and SRSV/Mel/89/ UK. Mel/89/ UK RNA was isolated from a 1989 school outbreak of gastroenteritis. The 3'-terminal 3435 nucleotides (excluding the poly(A) tail) were determined by RT-PCR and cDNA sequencing, completing our molecular characterization of antigenically diverse SRSVs. Coding regions for the calicivirus RNA polymerase and capsid protein were found together with a 3' open reading frame of unknown function. The polymerase region was most highly conserved between Mel/89/ UK and the other two SRSVs while the 3' open reading frame exhibited extreme variation. Phylogenetic analysis of SRSV capsids showed that Mel/89/ UK differed significantly from Bri/93/ UK and Sot/91/ UK (62 and 39% identity, respectively) and was distinct from 6 other non-UK SRSVs that had been previously characterized. This was consistent with the designation of Mel/89/ UK as a novel antigenic variant. Comparison of the capsid amino acid sequences of the 3 UK strains together with the antigenically distinct SRSV/Nor/68/US revealed a hypervariable region that could be surface-exposed and contain the SRSV antigenic determinants.[1]References
- Capsid diversity in small round-structured viruses: molecular characterization of an antigenically distinct human enteric calicivirus. Green, S.M., Lambden, P.R., Caul, E.O., Ashley, C.R., Clarke, I.N. Virus Res. (1995) [Pubmed]
Annotations and hyperlinks in this abstract are from individual authors of WikiGenes or automatically generated by the WikiGenes Data Mining Engine. The abstract is from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.About WikiGenesOpen Access LicencePrivacy PolicyTerms of Useapsburg
