Summary.
Nonstructural glycoprotein NSP4 of group A rotavirus induces diarrhea in neonatal mice by functioning as an enterotoxin. Previously, our laboratory reported that the structural features of group A and group C rotavirus NSP4 proteins are well conserved despite a lack of sequence homology between group A and group C rotavirus NSP4 proteins [Horie Y, et al., Arch Virol (1997) 142: 1865–1872]. To test whether group C rotavirus NSP4 has an enterotoxigenic activity, we expressed in Escherichia coli the carboxy two-thirds (corresponding to amino acid residues 55–150) of the NSP4 protein derived from group C rotavirus strain Ehime 9301. This truncated NSP4 protein was able to induce diarrhea in 5-day-old CD-1 mice when administered intraperitoneally. Thus, group C rotavirus NSP4 acts as an enterotoxin like group A rotavirus NSP4.
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Received September 22, 2000 Accepted November 18, 2000
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Sasaki, S., Horie, Y., Nakagomi, T. et al. Group C rotavirus NSP4 induces diarrhea in neonatal mice. Arch. Virol. 146, 801–806 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1007/s007050170148
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s007050170148