Research

Klassevirus 1, a previously undescribed member of the family Picornaviridae, is globally widespread

Lori R Holtz¹ , Stacy R Finkbeiner² , Guoyan Zhao² , Carl D Kirkwood³ , Rosina Girones⁴ , James M Pipas⁵ and David Wang²

¹  Department of Pediatrics, Washington University School of Medicine, One Children's Place, Campus Box 8116, St. Louis, Missouri 63110, USA

²  Departments of Molecular Microbiology and Pathology and Immunology, Washington University School of Medicine, 660 S. Euclid Ave. Campus Box 8230, St. Louis, Missouri 63110, USA

³  Enteric Virus Research Group, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Royal Children's Hospital, Victoria, Australia

⁴  Department of Microbiology, Faculty Biology, University of Barcelona, Diagonal 645, 08028 Barcelona, Spain

⁵  Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, 559B Crawford Hall, 4249 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260, USA

author email corresponding author email

Virology Journal 2009, 6:86doi:10.1186/1743-422X-6-86

Published:	24 June 2009

Abstract

Background

Diarrhea is the third leading infectious cause of death worldwide and is estimated to be responsible for approximately 2 million deaths a year. While many infectious causes of diarrhea have been established, approximately 40% of all diarrhea cases are of unknown etiology. In an effort to identify novel viruses that may be causal agents of diarrhea, we used high throughput mass sequencing to analyze stool samples collected from patients with acute diarrhea.

Results

Sequences with limited similarity to known picornaviruses were detected in a stool sample collected in Australia from a child with acute diarrhea. Using a combination of mass sequencing, RT-PCR, 5' RACE and 3' RACE, a 6383 bp fragment of the viral genome was sequenced. Phylogenetic analysis demonstrated that this virus was highly divergent from, but most closely related to, members of the genus Kobuvirus. We have tentatively named this novel virus klassevirus 1. We also detected klassevirus 1 by RT-PCR in a diarrhea specimen collected from a patient in St. Louis, United States as well as in untreated sewage collected in Barcelona, Spain.

Conclusion

Klassevirus 1 is a previously undescribed picornavirus that is globally widespread and present on at least three continents. Further investigations to determine whether klassevirus 1 is a human pathogen are needed.