Relationships among porcine and human P[6] rotaviruses: evidence that the different human P[6] lineages have originated from multiple interspecies transmission events

Porcine rotavirus strains (PoRVs) bearing human-like VP4 P6] gene alleles were identified. Genetic characterization with either PCR genotyping or sequence analysis allowed to determine the VP7 specificity of the PoRVs as G3, G4, G5 and G9, and the VP6 as genogroup I, that is predictive of a subgroup I specificity. Sequence analysis of the VP8* trypsin-cleavage product of VP4 allowed PoRVs to be characterized further into genetic lineages within the P6] genotype. Unexpectedly, the strains displayed significantly higher similarity (up to 94.6% and 92.5% at aa and nt level, respectively) to human M37-like P6] strains (lineage I), serologically classifiable as P2A, or to the atypical Hungarian P6] human strains (HRVs), designated as lineage V (up to 97.0% aa and 96.1% nt), than to the porcine P6] strain Gottfried, lineage II (<85.1% aa and 82.2 nt), which is serologically classified as P2B. Interestingly, no P6] PoRV resembling the original prototype porcine strain, Gottfried, was detected, while Japanase P6] PoRV clustered with the atypical Japanase G1 human strain AU19. By analysis of the 10th and 11th genome segments, all the strains revealed a NSP4B genogroup (Wa-like) and a NSP5/6 gene of porcine origin. These findings strongly suggest interspecies transmission of rotavirus strains and/or genes, and may indicate the occurrence of at least 3 separate rotavirus transmission events between pigs and humans, providing convincing evidence that evolution of human rotaviruses is tightly intermingled with the evolution of animal rotaviruses.