A bovine rotavirus serotype 1: serologic characterization of the virus and nucleotide sequence determination of the structural glycoprotein VP7 gene.

Bovine rotavirus T449 was isolated from feces of a calf with diarrhea. Serological characterization by serotype-specific monoclonal antibodies showed that the T449 virus belonged to serotype 1. This is the first report of a bovine rotavirus that does not belong to serotype 6, 8, or 10. The serotype 1 designation was confirmed by using an immunoperoxidase focus neutralization assay. The gene encoding the major neutralization antigen (VP7) was cloned and its nucleotide sequence was determined. The sequence obtained was 1062 bp in length and contained an open reading frame corresponding to 326 amino acid residues. Comparative analysis of the deduced amino acid sequence with the corresponding sequence of the human serotype 1 rotavirus strain, Wa, revealed a 90% identity. When compared to the predicted amino acid sequence of VP7 protein of the other serotypes an overall divergence of 20 to 25% was detected. These data show that the serological typing agrees with the result of the genetic analysis.