| Title | Full Sequence Analysis and Characterization of a Human Astrovirus Type 1 Isolate from South Korea |
|---|---|
| Author | Sung-Geun Lee1, Lae-Hyung Kang2, Weon-Hwa Jheong3, Mi-Hwa Oh4, Gyu-Cheol Lee5, Sujeong Park3, and Soon-Young Paik2* |
| Address | 1Korea Zoonosis Research Institute, Chonbuk National University, Jeonju 561-756, Republic of Korea, 2Department of Microbiology, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul 137-701, Republic of Korea, 3Environmental Infrastructure Research Department, National Institute of Environmental Research, Incheon 404-708, Republic of Korea, 4National Institute of Animal Science, Rural Development Administration, Suwon 414-706, Republic of Korea, 5Water Analysis and Research Center, Korea Institute of Water and Environment, Korea Water Resources Corp., Daejeon 306-711, Republic of Korea |
| Bibliography | Journal of Microbiology, 51(1),123-129, 2013, |
| DOI | 10.1007/s12275-013-2505-2 |
| Key Words | Astrovirus, full genome sequence, phylogenetic tree, South Korea, Astrovirus type 1 |
| Abstract | Human astroviruses are recognized as an important cause of infantile gastroenteritis around the world. In South Korea, sporadic cases of HAstV infection have been reported since 2002. However, hitherto, there have been no studies reporting the whole genome sequence of an HAstV isolate from South Korea. Hence, we sequenced and analyzed the entire genome of an HAstV-1 strain (lhar) that was isolated in Seoul, South Korea. The whole-genome sequence analysis revealed 3 open reading frames comprising the whole genome: ORF1a (2,763 bp), ORF1b (1,548 bp), and ORF2 (2,364 bp). The lhar strain showed amino acid identities with 8 other reference strains of 87.6–98.7%, 94.2–98.8%, and 62.6–99.0% in the ORF1a, ORF1b, and ORF2 regions, respectively. The amino acid sequence of the capsid region encoded by ORF2 was compared with a total of 19 HAstV-1 strains and 8 HAstVs reference strains isolated in various countries. This revealed 1 amino acid substitution, at aa412 (Pro → Arg) in ORF2. This study, the first to report the fulllength sequence of an HAstV isolated in South Korea, is meaningful in that it can be used as a full-length HAstV sequence standard for future comparison studies. It may also prove useful to the field of public health field by facilitating the diagnosis and the prediction of new emerging variants. |