Open AccessMolecular features of hepatitis E virus from farmed rabbits in Shandong province, China
Author(s) -
Zhang Hong-na,
Yufa Zhou,
Jingbo Liu
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
world rabbit science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.396
H-Index - 23
eISSN - 1989-8886
pISSN - 1257-5011
DOI - 10.4995/wrs.2018.10225
Subject(s) - hepatitis e virus , genotype , biology , virology , phylogenetic tree , hepatitis e , capsid , caliciviridae , veterinary medicine , virus , gene , viral disease , genetics , medicine
This study was undertaken to investigate the genetic variability of hepatitis E virus (HEV) from farmed rabbits in Shandong province, China. A total of 50 fresh faecal samples from 5 rabbit farms were collected and subjected to reverse transcription and nested polymerase chain reaction (RT-nPCR) for a fragment sequence of HEV capsid gene. The results demonstrated that HEV RNA was observed in 6 faecal samples (6/50, 12.0%). In addition, the result of phylogenetic analysis showed that the 6 HEV isolates were classified into HEV-3 genotype with other rabbit HEV isolates from other countries, and shared 85.2-87.2%, 81.5-83.1%, and 77.0-78.6% nucleotide similarities with rabbit HEV isolates from Korea, the United States and France, respectively. To sum up, the HEV isolated in this study from farmed rabbits belongs to the HEV-3 genotype, and the zoonotic ability and pathogenesis of the rabbit HEV merit further study due to the fact that HEV-3 genotype has the potential to trigger zoonotic infections.