Phylogenetic analysis of the full genome of rabbit hepatitis E virus (rbHEV) and molecular biologic study on the possibility of cross species transmission of rbHEV

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• 作者：Jiabao Geng^b ;   ; ¹ ; Hongwei Fu^c ;   ; ¹ ; Ling Wang^a ;   ; ^{lingwang@bjmu.edu.cn} ; Qiuning Bu^a ; Peng Liu^a ; Maorong Wang^b ; Yunhua Sui^b ; Xiaojuan Wang^a ; Yonghong Zhu^a ; Hui Zhuang^a ;   ; ^{zhuangbmu@126.com}
• 关键词：Rabbit hepatitis E virus (rbHEV) ; Phylogentic analysis ; Host range ; Genotype
• 刊名：Infection, Genetics and Evolution
• 出版年：2011
• 出版时间：December 2011
• 年：2011
• 卷：11
• 期：8
• 页码：2020-2025
• 全文大小：565 K

文摘

Rabbit HEV strains were isolated in China from farmed rabbits, which may be a reservoir of a novel genotype of HEV. However, there is little information regarding host range and zoonotic potential of rabbit HEV. A previous study from this group identified 25 specific nucleotide positions as possibly being involved in specifying the host range of HEV and/or in determining the severity of hepatitis E disease, whereas this previous analysis did not extend to the new rabbit HEVs. Consequently the complete genome of the rabbit HEV strain ch-bj-n1 was amplified as overlapping fragments using a combination of reverse-transcription-nested polymerase chain reaction and rapid amplification of cDNA ends. The resulting sequence together with two other rabbit HEVs were compared with 91 other HEV isolates representative of genotypes 1?. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the novel rabbit HEV strain should be classified into a new HEV genotype which has a closer evolutionary relationship with genotype 3 than genotypes 1, 2 and 4, with 20 of the 25 specific nucleotide positions identified as being present in rabbit HEV genome. Alpha-helix, hydrophilicity, and surface probability plots together with antigenic index analysis of the ORF2 protein were all undertaken to investigate the antigenicity of rabbit HEV. The alpha-helix plot and antigenicity index of the rabbit ORF2 protein was nearly identical to that of genotype 1 HEV isolates from human. Furthermore, 20 possible host range determinants in rabbit HEV were identical to those isolates from zoonotic groups, which may suggest a potential possibility of cross species transmission of rabbit HEV.