Candidate new rotavirus species in sheltered dogs, Hungary

Abstract

We identified unusual rotavirus strains in fecal specimens from sheltered dogs in Hungary by viral metagenomics. The novel rotavirus species displayed limited genome sequence homology to representatives of the 8 rotavirus species, A-H, and qualifies as a candidate new rotavirus species that we tentatively named Rotavirus I.

Keywords: Hungary; astrovirus; coronavirus; dogs; parvovirus; picodicistrovirus; rotavirus; semiconductor sequencing; vesivirus; viral metagenomics; viruses.

Figure 1

Structure comparison of rotavirus viral protein (VP) 6 proteins. A) Structure-based amino acid sequence alignment of the novel canine rotavirus VP6 protein and the template bovine rotavirus A VP6 protein. The background of the sequence alignments reflects the homology levels of the 2 VP6 sequences. Red, identical amino acid; orange, similar amino acid; pink, different amino acid). The main structural differences are indicated by dark red and menthol green on the sequence alignment and on the superimposed VP6 structures (B). Cartoon presentation of the homologous VP6 proteins: pink, rotavirus A; green, rotavirus I. Further information is available in the Technical Appendix.

Figure 2

Protein sequence–based phylogenetic tree of the rotavirus viral protein 6 gene obtained by the neighbor-joining algorithm. Asterisks indicate >90% bootstrap values. The 2 canine rotavirus strains from Hungary that belong to the proposed novel Rotavirus I cluster with rotavirus H, G, and B within a major clade referred to as clade 2. Rotavirus A, C, D, and F strains belong to clade 1 (6). Scale bar indicates nucleotide substitutions per site.