Human vaccine strain of lamb rotavirus (Chinese) NSP4 gene sequenced.

2003 JUL 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A human vaccine strain of lamb rotavirus (Chinese) NSP4 gene has been sequenced.

According to recent research published in the journal Virus Genes, "A lamb strain of rotavirus has recently been licensed for use in China as a live vaccine to prevent rotavirus diarrhea in children. As rotavirus NSP4, especially the cytotoxic domain alone is considered to be associated with diarrhea, we sequenced gene segment 10, which encodes NSP4, of lamb rotavirus."

"Comparative analyses was performed to identify differences from human rotavirus strains that might be associated with attenuation, and to ascertain whether the lamb rotavirus gene fits among the NSP4 of other sequenced rotavirus strains," reported Ketha V. Krishna Mohan and collaborators at the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Our comparative nucleotide sequence analysis suggests its close identity (91.17% homology) with that of group-A equine rotavirus (strain H123). Multiple alignment of the deduced amino acid sequence of lamb NSP4 with that of other group A rotaviruses demonstrated homology ranging from 63.42% with that of porcine YM strain to 93.71% with equine H123 strain of rotavirus."

"A group A-specific NSP4 monoclonal antibody recognized the glycosylated and unglycosylated forms of the protein from virus-infected lysates, suggesting a well-conserved group-specificity of the lamb NSP4," stated Mohan and colleagues. "Phylogenetic analysis of the lamb rotavirus gene, with 60 other NSP4 gene sequences of human and animal rotavirus ...