Prevalence of human astrovirus serotype 4: Capsid protein sequence and comparison with other strains

Abstract

Astrovirus serotype 4 has increased in relative prevalence in the Oxford, UK area in 1993. The structural gene of human astrovirus serotype 4 has been sequenced and the results indicate that this protein differs substantially from serotypes 1 and 2. In particular, conservation at the C terminus is greatly reduced. However, amino acid substitutions in this region show a strong conservation in character suggesting that structural or functional constraints operate in this region. © 1995, Cambridge University Press. All rights reserved.