Distribution of Group A Rotavirus Genotypes Circulating in Gwangju, Korea

ABSTRACT

To determine the distribution of rotavirus strain genotypes in Gwangju, Korea, we performed reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction and nucleotide sequencing analysis using the 115 rotavirus EIA positive stool specimens collected from December 2006 through April 2007. The most predominant genotype was confirmed as G1P[8] (53.9%), followed by G3P[8] (29.6%), G4P[6] (8.7%), G2P[4] (4.3%) and G9P[8] (1.7%). A special attention is drawn to the unusual findings of the genotypes G11P[25] and G12P[9] during this study period. In order to investigate the phylogenetic relationships among the same or different genotypes, the nucleotide sequences of rotavirus circulating in Korea and the foreign countries were analyzed using MegAlign and Clustal X programme. The G11P[25] strain identified in this study showed the highest nucleic acid similarity with G11 /CUK1 /2006 /Korea (99.2%) and P[25] /Dhaka /2001 /BGD (98.7%). Meanwhile, the G12P[9] strain detected in this study shared 99.4~99.5% nucleotide homology with the reference strain G12P[9] /CP1030 /2004 /Japan. This incidence of new rotavirus genotypes in our area illustrates the large diversity of rotavirus strains found worldwide. Therefore, the epidemiological surveillance of rotavirus may need to be continued in a wide geographic area.