Recombination Located over 2A-2B Junction Ribosome Frameshifting Region of Saffold Cardiovirus.
Antonio Charlys da CostaAdriana LuchsFlávio Augusto de Pádua MilagresShirley Vasconcelos KomninakisDanielle Elise GillMárcia Cristina Alves Brito Sayão LobatoRafael BrustulinRogério Togisaki das ChagasMaria de Fátima Neves Dos Santos AbrãoCassia Vitória de Deus Alves SoaresXutao DengEster Cerdeira SabinoEric L DelwartElcio de Souza LealPublished in: Viruses (2018)
Here we report the nearly full-length genome of a recombinant Saffold virus strain (SAFV-BR-193) isolated from a child with acute gastroenteritis. Evolutionary analysis performed using all available near-full length Saffold picornavirus genomes showed that the breakpoint found in the Brazilian strain (SAFV-BR-193) is indeed a recombination hotspot. Notably, this hotspot is located just one nucleotide after the ribosomal frameshift GGUUUUU motif in the SAFV genome. Empirical studies will be necessary to determine if this motif also affects the binding affinity of RNA-dependent RNA-polymerase (RdRp) and therefore increases the changes of RdRp swap between molecules during the synthesis of viral genomes.