Genetic analysis of calicivirus genomes detected in intestinal contents of piglets in Japan

Enteric caliciviruses, noroviruses, and sapoviruses are emerging path- ogens responsible for diarrhea or gastroenteritis in their respective hosts. In this study, swine enteric caliciviruses were detected in ten samples of intestinal contents from 24 piglets in Japan by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction using a broadly reactive primer pair (P290/289) that targeted the highly conserved RNA polymerase regions of the enteric caliciviruses. From the positive samples, the entire viral genome of strain K7/JP and 3′-end parts of the genomes of strains K5/JP and K10/JP were cloned and sequenced. K7/JP had an RNA genome of 7144 bases, excluding its 3′ poly (A) tail. The K7/JP genome possessed two open reading frames and characteristics common to sapoviruses. In phylogenetic analysis using amino acid sequences of VP1, K5/JP was demonstrated to be close to the noroviruses previously detected in pigs, and K7/JP and K10/JP were considered to be classified as a new genogroup of sapoviruses.