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Group C Rotavirus (RVC) has been associated globally with sporadic outbreaks of gastroenteritis in children and adults. RVC also infects animals, and interspecies transmission has been reported as well as its zoonotic potential. Considering its genetic diversity and the absence of effective vaccines, it is important and necessary to develop new generation vaccines against RVC for both humans and animals. The aim of the present study was to develop and characterize an HSV-1-based amplicon vector expressing a human RVC-VP6 protein and evaluate the humoral immune response induced after immunizing BALB/c mice. Local fecal samples positive for RVC were used for isolation and sequencing of the vp6 gene, which phylogenetically belongs to the I2 genotype. We show here that cells infected with the HSV[VP6C] amplicon vector efficiently express the VP6 protein, and induced specific anti-RVC antibodies in mice immunized with HSV[VP6C], in a prime-boost schedule. This work highlights that amplicon vectors are an attractive platform for the generation of safe genetic immunogens against RVC, without the addition of external adjuvants., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Group A rotaviruses (RV-A) are the most common agents of viral gastroenteritis in children worldwide. The goal of this study was to compare two different methods to concentrate RV-A from sewage samples and to improve the detection and quantification of RV-A using a multiplex quantitative PCR assay with an internal control. Both RV-A and the internal control virus, bacteriophage PP7, were seeded into wastewater and then concentrated using either an ultrafiltration-based adsorption-elution protocol or an ultracentrifugation-based protocol. Real time multiplex quantitative PCR was used to quantify the purified RV-A and PP7, and the results of the multiplex assay were compared with the results of the monoplex assays. The ultracentrifugation-based method had a mean recovery rate of 47% (range: 34-60%), while the ultrafiltration-based adsorption-elution method had a mean recovery rate of 3.5% (range: 1.5-5.5%). These results demonstrate that ultracentrifugation is a more appropriate method for recovering RV-A from wastewater. This method together with the multiplex qPCR assay may be suitable for routine laboratory use., (Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

A rapid purification method of rotavirus particles to high yield retaining the double shelled structure of infectious virus is described. Group A rotavirus (UK strain) was concentrated through a cushion of colloidal silica (rho=1.10 g/cm(3)) or by precipitating with polyethylene glycol 8000. After concentration, infectious rotavirus was cleared from host cell proteins by density equilibrium centrifugation in gradients of colloidal silica using near vertical rotors. Characterisation of purified virus assessed by electron microscopy and poliacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) revealed the typical wheel shape structure of rotavirus particles and the presence of the 11 segments of dsRNA arranged in the 4-2-3-2 pattern. Presence of rotavirus structural proteins including VP6, VP4 and VP7 from the outer shell, was demonstrated by SDS-PAGE and Western blot using polyclonal and VP6-specific monoclonal antibodies. This method achieved a approximately 1500 fold purification, which retained approximately 80% infectivity depending on the concentration protocol used, while yielding 160 microg of viral protein per each litre of infected cell culture medium. The time required for the isopycnic centrifugation was only 25 min and the entire completion of the method required 3.5 h. The method is simple technically and applicable to the purification of large as well as minute amounts of virus.