In the present study, the genomic sequence characteristics of HN-JY40 strains of the hepatitis E virus (HEV) isolated from pigs in Henan Province, China, were analyzed and the evolutionary relationship between HN-JY40 and other sequenced strains examined. The whole genome of HN-JY40 was sequenced and analyzed by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, 3' rapid amplification of cDNA ends (3' RACE) and 5' RACE. Bioinformatic analyses were carried out with Megalign, Expasy, clustal x, and MEGA 4 software. The genome of HN-JY40 was 7 223 bp in size upon removal of polyA sequences. Sizes were 9 bp and 69 bp at 5' and 3' noncoding regions, respectively. The genome of HN-JY40 was predicted to contain three open reading frames (ORFs): ORF1 (5 124 bp) encoding 1 707 amino acids; ORF2 (2 025 bp) encoding 674 amino acids; ORF3 (345 bp) encoding 114 amino acids. Phylogenetic-tree analyses indicated that HN-JY40 is a typical type-IV virus that belongs to a new subgenotype of HEV genotype 4. We sequenced and analyzed the whole genome of HN-JY40. This strategy elicited the genomic characteristics of the HEV isolated from pigs in Henan Province as well as the evolutionary relationships between HN- JY40 and other HEV isolates from pigs. We revealed that the ORF1 of HN-JY40 (153-432 nt) and human HK 104-2004 had high similarity, which offers molecular evidence for uncovering the interspecies transmission of the HEV.
Amino Acid Sequence ; Animals ; Base Sequence ; China ; Cloning, Molecular ; Genome, Viral ; Hepatitis E ; veterinary ; virology ; Hepatitis E virus ; classification ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; Humans ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Open Reading Frames ; Phylogeny ; Sequence Homology, Amino Acid ; Swine ; Swine Diseases ; virology