Characterization of a Novel Rat Hepatitis E Virus Isolated from an Asian Musk Shrew (<i>Suncus murinus</i>)
Huimin Bai,
Wei Li,
Dawei Guan,
Juan Su,
Changwen Ke,
Yasushi Ami,
Yuriko Suzaki,
Naokazu Takeda,
Masamichi Muramatsu,
Tian-Cheng Li
Affiliations
Huimin Bai
Department of Basic Medicine and Forensic Medicine, Baotou Medical College, Jianshe Road 31, Baotou 014060, China
Wei Li
Institute of Microbiology, Center for Disease Control and Prevention of Guangdong Province, 160 Qunxian Road, Dashi Street, Panyu District, Guangzhou 511430, China
Dawei Guan
Institute of Microbiology, Center for Disease Control and Prevention of Guangdong Province, 160 Qunxian Road, Dashi Street, Panyu District, Guangzhou 511430, China
Juan Su
Institute of Microbiology, Center for Disease Control and Prevention of Guangdong Province, 160 Qunxian Road, Dashi Street, Panyu District, Guangzhou 511430, China
Changwen Ke
Institute of Microbiology, Center for Disease Control and Prevention of Guangdong Province, 160 Qunxian Road, Dashi Street, Panyu District, Guangzhou 511430, China
Yasushi Ami
Division of Experimental Animals Research, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Gakuen 4-7-1, Musashi-murayama, Tokyo 208-0011, Japan
Yuriko Suzaki
Division of Experimental Animals Research, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Gakuen 4-7-1, Musashi-murayama, Tokyo 208-0011, Japan
Naokazu Takeda
Research Institute for Microbial Diseases, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka 565-0781, Japan
Masamichi Muramatsu
Department of Virology II, 2, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Gakuen 4-7-1, Musashi-murayama, Tokyo 208-0011, Japan
Tian-Cheng Li
Department of Virology II, 2, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Gakuen 4-7-1, Musashi-murayama, Tokyo 208-0011, Japan
The Asian musk shrew (shrew) is a new reservoir of a rat hepatitis E virus (HEV) that has been classified into genotype HEV-C1 in the species Orthohepevirus C. However, there is no information regarding classification of the new rat HEV based on the entire genome sequences, and it remains unclear whether rat HEV transmits from shrews to humans. We herein inoculated nude rats (Long-Evans rnu/rnu) with a serum sample from a shrew trapped in China, which was positive for rat HEV RNA, to isolate and characterize the rat HEV distributed in shrews. A rat HEV strain, S1129, was recovered from feces of the infected nude rat, indicating that rat HEV was capable of replicating in rats. S1129 adapted and grew well in PLC/PRF/5 cells, and the recovered virus (S1129c1) infected Wistar rats. The entire genomes of S1129 and S1129c1 contain four open reading frames and share 78.3–81.8% of the nucleotide sequence identities with known rat HEV isolates, demonstrating that rat HEVs are genetically diverse. We proposed that genotype HEV-C1 be further classified into subtypes HEV-C1a to HEV-C1d and that the S1129 strain circulating in the shrew belonged to the new subtype HEV-C1d. Further studies should focus on whether the S1129 strain infects humans.
