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. 2017 Dec 13;12(12):e0189504.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0189504. eCollection 2017.

Detection and molecular characterization of the novel recombinant norovirus GII.P16-GII.4 Sydney in southeastern Brazil in 2016

Débora Maria Pires Gonçalves Barreira  1 , Túlio Machado Fumian  2 , Marco André Loureiro Tonini  1 , Lays Paula Bondi Volpini  1 , Rodrigo Pratte Santos  1 , Anézia Lima Chaves Ribeiro  3 , José Paulo Gagliardi Leite  2 , Márcia Terezinha Baroni de Moraes E Souza  2 , Patrícia Brasil  4 , Denise Cotrim da Cunha  5 , Marize Pereira Miagostovich  2 , Liliana Cruz Spano  1
Affiliations

Detection and molecular characterization of the novel recombinant norovirus GII.P16-GII.4 Sydney in southeastern Brazil in 2016

Débora Maria Pires Gonçalves Barreira et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Noroviruses are the leading cause of acute gastroenteritis (AGE) in all age groups worldwide. Despite the high genetic diversity of noroviruses, most AGE outbreaks are caused by a single norovirus genotype: GII.4. Since 1995, several different variants of norovirus GII.4 have been associated with pandemics, with each variant circulating for 3 to 8 years. The Sydney_2012 variant was first reported in Australia and then in other countries. A new variant, GII.P16-GII.4, was recently described in Japan and South Korea and then in the USA, France, Germany and England. In our study, 190 faecal specimens were collected from children admitted to a paediatric hospital and a public health facility during a surveillance study of sporadic cases of AGE conducted between January 2015 and July 2016. The norovirus was detected by RT-qPCR in 51 samples (26.8%), and in 37 of them (72.5%), the ORF1-2 junction was successfully sequenced. The new recombinant GII.P16-GII.4 Sydney was revealed for the first time in Brazil in 2016 and predominated among other strains (9 GII.Pe-GII.4, 3 GII.P17-GII.17, 1 GII.Pg-GII.1, 1 GII.P16-GII.3 and 1 GII.PNA-GII.4). The epidemiological significance of this new recombinant is still unknown, but continuous surveillance studies may evaluate its impact on the population, its potential to replace the first recombinant GII.Pe-GII.4 Sydney 2012 variant, and the emergence of new recombinant forms of GII.P16.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Phylogenetic analysis of GII norovirus based on the partial nucleotide sequences of the polymerase and capsid regions, using the MON431 (nt 4820–4839) and G2SKR (nt 5367–5389) primers.
(a) Phylogenetic tree of 231 bp within the polymerase region (3’-ORF1). (b) Phylogenetic tree of 277 bp within the capsid region (5’-ORF2). References strains of norovirus genotypes are named according to GenBank with their respectively accession numbers. Brazilian strains are marked with black filled diamonds. Recombinant strains of GII.P16-GII.4 are marked with green filled diamonds, and recombinant strains of GII.P16 grouping with non-GII.4 capsid genotypes are highlighted with unfilled green diamonds. The bootstrap values (2,000 replicates) are indicated in the phylogenetic tree, and values less than 70% are not represented. The bar at the bottom of the figure is proportional to the genetic distance.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Alignment of sequences of VP1 protruding P domain derived from norovirus GII.4 strains.
Antigenic epitopes A (green), B (blue), C (orange), D (purple) and E (red) are indicated.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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