Redesigned Duplex RT-qPCR for the Detection of GI and GII Human Noroviruses

Human noroviruses(HuNoVs)are major foodborne pathogens that cause nonbacterial acute gastroenteritis worldwide.As the tissue-culture system for HuNoVs is not mature enough for routine detection of the virus,detection is mainly dependent on molecular approaches such as reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR)and reverse transcription quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction(RTqPCR).The widely used primers and probes for RT-qPCR were established in the early 2000s.As HuNoVs are highly variant viruses,viral genome mutations result in previously designed primers and/or probes that were perfectly matched working less efficiently over time.In this study,a new duplex RT-qPCR(ND-RT-qPCR)was designed for the detection of genogroup Ⅰ(GⅠ)and genogroup Ⅱ(GⅡ)HuNoVs based on an analysis of viral sequences added in the database after 2010.Using long transcribed viral RNAs,the results demonstrate that the sensitivity of ND-RT-qPCR is as low as one genomic copy for both GⅠ and GⅡ HuNoVs.The performance of ND-RT-qPCR was further evaluated by a comparison with the commonly used Kageyama primer/probe sets for RT-qPCR(Kageyama RT-qPCR)for 23 HuNoV-positive clinical samples.All five GⅠ samples were registered as positive by ND-RT-qPCR,whereas only two samples were registered as positive by Kageyama RT-qPCR.All 18 GⅡ samples were registered as positive by ND-RT-qPCR,while 17 samples were registered as positive by Kageyama RT-qPCR.The sensitivity reflected by the quantification cycle(Cq)value was lower in ND-RT-qPCR than in Kageyama RT-qPCR.Our data suggest that ND-RT-qPCR could be a good fit for the detection of current strains of HuNoVs.

An Effective Platform for Exploring Rotavirus Receptors by Bacterial Surface Display System

Rotavirus(RV) is a major foodborne pathogen. For RV prevention and control, it is a key to uncover the interaction mechanism between virus and its receptors. However, it is hard to specially purify the viral receptors, including histo-blood group antigens(HBGAs). Previously, the protruding domain protein(P protein) of human norovirus(genotype Ⅱ.4) was displayed on the surface of Escherichia coli, and it specifically recognized and captured the viral ligands. In order to further verify the feasibility of the system, P protein was replaced by VP8* of RV(G9 P[8]) in this study. In the system, VP8*could be correctly released by thrombin treatment with antigenicity retaining, which was confirmed by Western blot and Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assays. Type A HBGAs from porcine gastric mucin(PGM) were recognized and captured by this system. From saliva mixture, the captured viral receptor bound with displayed VP8* was confirmed positive with monoclonal antibody against type A HBGAs. It indicated that the target ligands could be easily separated from the complex matrix. These results demonstrate that the bacterial surface display system will be an effective platform to explore viral receptors/ligands from cell lines or food matrix.