Letters to the Editor Evidence for Bovine Origin of VP4 and VP7 Genes of

Earlier studies have proposed that human G6P[14] (PA169-like VP7), G8P[14], and G10P[14] group A rotavirus strains resulted from interspecies transmission between humans and cattle (1, 4, 9, 11, 13, 14). However, to our knowledge, PA169-like G6 strains have not been detected in cattle, and the only reported bovine P[14] strain, Sun9, shared borderline VP8* amino acid identities (88.3 % to 90.3%) with human P[14] rotaviruses (3) and from phylogenetic analysis appeared to be distantly related to human P[14] strains. In the present study, we report the detection of PA169-like G6 with P[11] and G10P[14] strains (closely related to human P[14] rotaviruses) in calves with diarrhea. Multiplex seminested PCR using type-specific primers de-scribed earlier (2, 5–8, 10) and/or sequencing-based genotyping of 130 (22.7%) group A rotavirus strains (designated RUBV strains for ruminant [RU] and bovine [BV]) detected by RNA electrophoresis in polyacrylamide gels from diarrheic calves (n 573) from November 2001 to March 2005 in and around Kolkata in eastern India revealed an increased prevalence o