Genetic characterization of a rare bovine-like human VP4 mono-reassortant G6P[8] rotavirus strain detected from an infant in Bangladesh Mokibul Hassan Afrad a , Jelle Matthijnssens b , Sayra Moni a , Farzana Kabir a , Adnin Ashrafi a , Mohammed Ziaur Rahman a , Abu S.G. Faruque a , Tasnim Azim a , Mustafizur Rahman a,⇑ a Virology Laboratory, International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b) b Laboratory of Clinical & Epidemiological Virology, Department of Microbiology & Immunology, Rega Institute for Medical Research, University of Leuven, Belgium article info Article history: Received 8 June 2013 Received in revised form 26 June 2013 Accepted 28 June 2013 Available online 10 July 2013 Keywords: Rotavirus G6P[8] Interspecies transmission Diarrhea Bangladesh abstract During an ongoing diarrhea etiology surveillance in Mirzapur, Bangladesh, a rare human G6P[8] RVA strain (RVA/Human-wt/BGD/KH2288/2011/G6P[8]) was detected in a stool sample of a 7-month-old infant with acute diarrhea. Complete genotype analyses revealed that KH2288 possessed the G6-P[8]- I2-R2-C2-M2-A11-N2-T6-E2-H3 genotype constellation. Sequence analysis of the VP7 gene revealed a close phylogenetic relationship with bovine G6 strains from India, whereas, the VP4 gene segment was nearly identical to typical human P[8] strain circulating in Bangladesh and the rest of the world. Phylo- genetic analysis of the remaining nine gene segments revealed a close relatedness to either animal or ani- mal derived human RVA strain. We speculated that, strain KH2288 was a monoreassortant between a human RVA strain and a RVA strain typically infecting member of the Artiodactyla, such as cattle, goat or sheep. To our knowledge, this is the first complete genotyping report of a naturally occurring G6P[8] RVA strain, worldwide. Ó 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Group A rotaviruses (RVAs) are an important cause of diarrheal diseases, and cause significant morbidity and mortality in young children and animals worldwide, especially in developing countries (Estes and K.A., 2007) . It was estimated that 12–14% of childhood hospitalizations in Bangladesh were due to RVA (Tanaka et al., 2007). Among country estimates of RVA related deaths among children, Bangladesh ranked 9th with 9857 deaths per year among those less than 5 years, and accounting for 2% of the total global mortality (Unicomb et al., 1997). The virus belongs to the family Reoviridae, and possess a gen- ome of 11 segments of double stranded RNA, encoding six struc- tural (VP) and six non-structural proteins (NSP). Traditionally, RVAs are characterized based on their outer capsid proteins, VP7 (G genotypes) and VP4 (P genotypes) (Estes and K.A., 2007) . Based on the full genome sequences of all 11 genome segments, a RVA genotyping classification system has been proposed and so far at least 27 G (VP7), 37 P (VP4), 17 I (VP6), 9 R (VP1), 9 C (VP2), 8 M (VP3), 16 A (NSP1), 10 N (NSP2), 12 T (NSP3), 15 E (NSP4), and 11 H (NSP5/6) genotypes have been described (Matthijnssens et al., 2008b; Matthijnssens et al., 2011; Trojnar et al., 2013). To date, at least 12 G- (G1–G6, G8–G12, G20) and 14 P- (P[1], P[3]–P[11], P[14], P[19], P[25], and P[28]) genotypes have been de- tected from humans, but only G1–G4 and G9 are currently of epi- demiological importance worldwide (Estes and K.A., 2007; Matthijnssens et al., 2008a). Notably, the frequent detection of G12 RVA strains in recent years suggests the emergence of this genotype globally (Matthijnssens et al., 2010a; Rahman et al., 2007a). Based on the complete RVA genome sequence comparisons, two major genotype constellations among human, Wa-like (I1- R1-C1-M1-A1-N1-T1-E1-H1) and DS-1-like (I2-R2-C2-M2-A2- N2-T2-E2-H2) have been described (Matthijnssens and Van Ranst, 2012). The majority of the human Wa-like gene segments are believed to have a common ancestor with porcine RVA strains, whereas several of the human DS-1-like gene segments are believed to have a common ancestor with bovine RVA strains (Matthijnssens et al., 2008b). A third minor human genotype constellation; AU-1-like (I3-R3-C3-M3-A3-N3-T3-E3-H3) is be- lieved to have originated from cats or dogs (Nakagomi et al., 1990). Additionally, many unusual RVA genotype constellations 1567-1348/$ - see front matter Ó 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.meegid.2013.06.030 ⇑ Corresponding author. Address: Virology Laboratory, International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b), Mohakhali, Dhaka 1212, Ban- gladesh. Tel.: +880 2 8811751 60; fax: +880 2 8812529. E-mail addresses: hassan_afrad@icddrb.org (M.H. Afrad), jelle.matthijnssens@ uz.kuleuven.ac.be (J. Matthijnssens), sayramoni@icddrb.org (S. Moni), farzana. kabir4520@gmail.com (F. Kabir), adnin.ashrafi237@gmail.com (A. Ashrafi), mzrahman@icddrb.org (M.Z. Rahman), gfaruque@icddrb.org (A.S.G. Faruque), tasnim@icddrb.org (T. Azim), mustafizur@icddrb.org (M. Rahman). Infection, Genetics and Evolution 19 (2013) 120–126 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Infection, Genetics and Evolution journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/meegid