Hindawi Publishing Corporation ISRN Virology Volume 2013, Article ID 179871, 5 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.5402/2013/179871 Research Article Electropherotypes and G-Types of Group A Rotaviruses Detected in Children with Diarrhea in Lagos, Nigeria Christianah Idowu Ayolabi, 1 David Ajiboye Ojo, 2 and George Enyimah Armah 3 1 Department of Microbiology, University of Lagos, Nigeria 2 Department of Microbiology, University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria 3 Department of Electron Microscopy and Histopathology, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana Correspondence should be addressed to Christianah Idowu Ayolabi; ciayolabi@yahoo.co.uk Received 11 October 2013; Accepted 5 November 2013 Academic Editors: D. J. Jackwood and J. Ortego Copyright © 2013 Christianah Idowu Ayolabi et al. Tis is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Approximately over 500,000 children die annually due to severe dehydrating diarrhea caused by rotaviruses. Tis work investigated rotavirus infection among children less than 5 years with diarrhea in Lagos and determined the circulating electropherotypes and genotypes of the virus isolates. Tree hundred and two ( = 302) stool samples from children below 60 months were collected from diferent hospitals and health care centers in Lagos and subjected to enzyme immunoassay (EIA) to determine the presence of Group A rotavirus, RT-PCR to determine the G-types, and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) to determine the electropherotypes. Te results show that 60.3% of the samples showed distinct rotavirus RNA migration pattern, having long electropherotypes (55.3%) of seven variations dominating over the short electropherotypes (44.5%). Six diferent G-types were detected (G1, G2, G3, G4, G9, and G12). Serotypes G1 and G12 showed long electropherotypic pattern while G2, G3, and G9 exhibited either short or long electropherotype. All G4 detected show short electropherotypic pattern. In conclusion, information on the genomic diversity and RNA electropherotypes of rotaviruses detected in children with diarrhea in Lagos is reported in this study. 1. Introduction Rotavirus gastroenteritis is the major cause of morbidity and mortality among infants and young children in both developed and developing countries [1, 2]. It is estimated that 130 million children develop rotavirus-related diarrhoea each year with 18 million of them experiencing moderate to severe dehydration, resulting in over 520,000 deaths, with 85% of these deaths occurring in low-income countries [3, 4]. Te mature virus particles are icosahedral, nonenveloped, measure 100 nm in diameter, and consist of a double- stranded RNA (dsRNA) in the family Reoviridae. It has a distinct morphologic appearance by negative-stain electron microscopy [5]. Te viral capsid is triple layered; the inner layer (core) contains the virus genome, which comprises 11 segments of double-stranded RNA, each coding for products that are either structural viral proteins (VP) or nonstructural proteins (NSP). Te segmented genome of rotavirus readily reassorts during coinfection, a property that has been used in developing vaccines and undoubtedly plays a role in virus evolution [6]. Studies on the electrophoretic migration patterns of viral genomic dsRNA segments (electropherotyping) have allowed for the classifcation of rotaviruses into two major groups, the long (L) and the short (S) electropherotypes [7]. Six of these dsRNA segments encode six structural proteins (VP1–VP4, VP6, and VP7), whilst fve of them encode fve nonstructural proteins (NSP1–NSP5). Of importance, structural proteins VP7 (a glycoprotein or G antigen) and VP4 (the protease sensitive protein or P antigen) make up the outermost layer and are known to induce neutralising and protective antibodies, respectively [8]. VP6 is the most abundant protein [7]. It is stable and has conserved epitopes which makes it a major target in diagnostic assays [9]. In addition, it is highly immunogenic and antigenic; therefore, it may be important in protective immunity. Te globally