Molecular identification of a novel G1 VP7 gene carried by a human rotavirus with a super-short RNA pattern

AU19 is a human rotavirus strain carrying a G1P2C[6] specificity and a super-short RNA pattern. Neutralization assay revealed an asymmetric cross neutralization between AU19 and Wa, a representative G1 rotavirus strain, and it is noteworthy that AU19 was neutralized poorly by anti-Wa hyper-immune serum. In the phylogenetic tree the VP7 gene of AU19 formed a lineage different from the established lineages of known human G1 rotaviruses. A signature code MFTKLLTAA was noted for AU19 lineage. These results provide evidences that the VP7 gene of AU19 represents a novel G1 lineage.