Characterization and molecular cloning of a human parvovirus genome

The genome of the small human virus serologically associated with erythrocyte aplasia and erythema infectiosum (fifth disease) is shown to be a linear, nonpermuted, single-stranded DNA molecule with self-priming hairpin termini, properties which are characteristic of the genomes of the family Parvoviridae. This human parvovirus chromosome was molecularly cloned into bacterial plasmid vectors and the cloned DNA was used to explore its relatedness to other mammalian parvovirus serotypes by DNA:DNA hybridization. It is not related to the human adeno-associated viruses but does show a distant evolutionary relationship to genomes of the helper-independent parvoviruses of rodents. This strongly suggests that it is an autonomous parvovirus, and as such is the first example of a member of this group of common animal pathogens to cause disease in man.