Comparative amino acid sequence analysis of the outer capsid protein VP4 from four lapine rotavirus strains reveals identity with genotype P[14] human rotaviruses

The genes encoding the outer capsid VP4 proteins of four lapine rotavirus strains, three isolated in the US (ALA, C-11 and BAP-2) and one isolated in Japan (R-2) were sequenced, and the predicted amino acid (aa) sequence was compared to all known rotavirus genotypes. A high degree of aa identity (96.8-98.9%) was found among the American lapine strains, while the Japanese rotavirus strain R-2 shared less aa identity (89.5-90.0%) with the American strains. The four lapine rotaviruses shared the closest aa identity (90.6-94.9%) with the P[14] genotype, consisting of viruses isolated from humans in Italy, Finland and Thailand. These results indicate that the VP4 protein of the four lapine strains are genotype P14, and that among lapine strains there are possibly two subtypes, one represented by the American lapine strains and the other by the Japanese R-2 strain.