Sequence relationships between the genome segments of human and animal rotavirus strains

The sequence relationships of a range of cultivable and noncultivable human and animal rotaviruses were investigated by hybridization of rotavirus cDNA probes to genomic RNAs immobilized on diazobenzyloxymethyl paper. Under conditions of low stringency (34% base mismatch tolerated) most genome segments exhibited partial homology except for genes 4 and 5. In contrast, under more stringent conditions of hybridization in which no more than 8% base mismatch was tolerated, few segments exhibited homology. Generally the human and animal rotaviruses were found to possess distinct nucleic acid sequences that exhibit only a low order of sequence relatedness. These results are consistent with the notion that both cumulative changes in nucleic acid sequences and the interchange of segments may be involved in the evolution of distinct rotavirus strains.