Cloning of bovine rotavirus (RF strain): nucleotide sequence of the gene coding for the major capsid protein

The genes of the RF strain of bovine rotavirus have been cloned into pBR 322 following the synthesis and hybridization of cDNA transcribed from both strands of in vitro polyadenylated genomic RNA. Cloned rotavirus DNAs were assigned to most of the 11 genomic RNA segments by Northern blot hybridization. The complete sequence of gene 6 that codes for the major inner capsid protein has been determined. The gene is 1356 nucleotides long and possesses an unique long open reading frame that could encode a protein (397 amino acids) of similar size to the known gene 6 product. Comparison of the RF bovine rotavirus gene 6 sequence with the sequence of the simian rotavirus gene 6, showed these genes to be very similar in nucleotide sequence (87% homology). Most of the base changes are silent and the predicted amino acid sequences are almost identical (97% homology).