Summary
Classic human enteric caliciviruses (HuCVs) have a distinctive morphology and are primarily associated with pediatric acute gastroenteritis. Although morphologically distinct from the small round structured viruses (SRSVs), the classic HuCVs are thought to be closely related and were anticipated to have a similar genome organisation. We report the first genome sequence and molecular characterisation of a classic human enteric calicivirus associated with a case of acute vomiting and diarrhoea in an infant. The RNA genome (7266 nt) is smaller than the genome of SRSVs from the two genetic groups and has a unique arrangement of open reading frames. Further analysis of the 3′ terminal 3 kb from a second unrelated isolate confirmed this genomic organisation. Analysis of capsid and RNA polymerase sequences together with the unique genomic organisation of classic HuCV suggest these viruses are more closely related to the animal caliciviruses than the enteric SRSV group of viruses.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Carter MJ, Milton ID, Meanger J, Bennett M, Gaskell RM, Turner PC (1992) The complete nucleotide sequence of a feline calicivirus. Virology 190: 443–448
Caul EO (1988) Small round human fecal viruses. In: Pattison JR (ed) Parvoviruses and human disease. CRC Press, Boca Raton, pp 139–163
Caul EO, Appleton H (1982) The electron microscopical and physical characteristics of small round human fecal viruses: an interim scheme for classification. J Med Virol 9: 257–265
Cubitt WD, Jiang XJ, Wang J, Estes MK (1994) Sequence similarity of human caliciviruses and small round structured viruses. J Med Virol 43: 252–258
Froussard P (1992) A random-PCR method (rPCR) to construct whole cDNA library from low amounts of RNA. Nucleic Acids Res 20: 2900
Green SM, Dingle KE, Lambden PR, Caul EO, Ashley CR, Clarke IN (1994) Human entricCaliciviridae: a new prevalent small round-structured virus group defined by RNA-dependent RNA polymerase and capsid diversity. J Gen Virol 75: 1883–1888
Greenberg HB, Matsui SM (1992) Astroviruses and caliciviruses: emerging enteric pathogens. Infect Agents Dis 1: 71–91
Grothues D, Cantor CR, Smith CL (1993) PCR amplification of megabase DNA with tagged random primers (T-PCR). Nucleic Acids Res 21: 1321–1322
Jiang X, Wang M, Wang K, Estes MK (1993) Sequence and genomic organization of Norwalk virus. Virology 195: 51–61
Koonin EV, Gorbalenya AE, Purdy MA, Rozanov MN, Reyes GR, Bradley DW (1992) Computer-assisted assignment of functional domains in the non-structural polyprotein of hepatitis E virus: delineation of an additional group of positve-strand RNA plant and animal viruses. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 89: 8259–8263
Kozak M (1991) Structural features in eukaryotic mRNA that modulate the initiation of translation. J Biol Chem 266: 19867–19870
Lambden PR, Caul EO, Ashley CR, Clarke IN (1993) Sequence and genome organization of a human small round-structured (Norwalk-like) virus. Science 259: 516–519
Lambden PR, Caul EO, Ashley CR, Clarke IN (1994) Human enteric caliciviruses are genetically distinct from small round structured viruses. Lancet 343: 666–667
Lambden PR, Liu BL, Clarke IN (1995) A conserved sequence motif at the t′ terminus of the Southampton virus genome is characteristic of theCaliciviridae. Virus Genes (in press)
Lew JF, Petric M, Kapikian AZ, Jiang X, Estes MK, Green KY (1994) Identification of minireovirus as a Norwalk-like virus in pediatric patients with gastroenteritis. J Virol 68: 3391–3396
Madeley CR, Cosgrove BP (1976) Caliciviruses in man. Lancet i: 199–200
Matson DO, Zhong W-M, Nakata S, Numata K, Jiang X, Pickering LK, Chiba S, Estes MK (1995) Molecular characterization of a human calicivirus with sequence relationships closer to animal caliciviruses than other known human caliciviruses. J Med Virol 45: 215–222
Meyers G, Wirblich C, Thiel H (1991a) Genomic and subgenomic RNAs of rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus are both protein-linked and packaged into particles. Virology 184: 677–686
Meyers G, Wirblich C, Thiel H (1991b) Rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus — molecular cloning and nucleotide sequencing of a calicivirus genome. Virology 184: 664–676
Neill JD, Reardon IM, Heinrikson RL (1991) Nucleotide sequence and expression of the capsid protein gene of feline calicivirus. J Virol 65: 5440–5447
Neill JD (1992) Nucleotide sequence of the capsid protein gene of 2 serotypes of San Miguel sea lion virus: identification of conserved and non-conserved amino acid sequences among calicivirus capsid proteins. Virus Res 24: 211–222
Tam AW, Smith MM, Guerra ME, Huang C, Bradley DW, Fry KE, Reyes GR (1991) Hepatitis E virus (HEV): Molecular cloning and sequencing of the full-length viral genome. Virology 185: 120–131
Tohya Y, Taniguchi Y, Takahashi E, Utagawa E, Takeda N, Miyamura K, Yamazaki S, Mikami T (1991) Sequence analysis of the 3′-end of feline calicivirus genome. Virology 183: 810–814
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Liu, B.L., Clarke, I.N., Caul, E.O. et al. Human enteric caliciviruses have a unique genome structure and are distinct from the Norwalk-like viruses. Archives of Virology 140, 1345–1356 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01322662
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01322662