The VP3 gene of human group C rotavirus

The complete nucleotide sequence of genome segment 4 from the human group C rotavirus (Bristol strain) was determined. Comparison of the nucleotide sequences of the genome termini with the consensus 5′ and 3′ terminal non-coding sequences of the human group C rotavirus genome revealed characteristic 5′ and 3′ sequence motifs. Human group C rotavirus genome segment 4 is 2, 166bp long and encodes a single open reading frame of 2,082 nucleotides (693 amino acids) starting at nucleotide 55 and terminating at nucleotide 2,136 giving a 3′ untranslated region of 30 nucleotides. Alignment with the porcine group C VP3 equivalent gene showed the human gene is one amino acid longer, and that the proteins have 84.1% amino acid sequence identity. A conserved potential nucleotide binding motif shared with the porcine VP3 sequence was identified. Analogy with the group A rotaviruses suggested that the genome segment 4 encodes the group C rotavirus guanylyltransferase.