Amino Acid Substitution within the VP7 Protein of G2 Rotavirus Strains Associated with Failure To Serotype

Rotavirus strains collected in the United Kingdom during the 1995-1996 season and genotyped as G2 by reverse transcription-PCR failed to serotype in enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays using three different G2-specific monoclonal antibodies. The deduced amino acid sequences of the antigenic regions A (amino acids 87 to 101), B (amino acids 142 to 152), and C (amino acids 208 to 221) of VP7 revealed that a substitution at position 96 (Asp→Asn) correlated with the change in ability to serotype these G2 strains.