Virology

Biography

Biography: Souvik Ghosh

Abstract

Rotavirus-A (RVA) are a major cause of viral diarrhea in humans, animals and birds. The RVA genome consists of 11 segments of double-stranded RNA that encode 6 structural and 6 nonstructural proteins. The mechanisms of genetic diversity of RVAs include reassortment, point mutations and rearrangement events. Whole genomic analyses of RVA strains from different host species are essential to obtain conclusive data on the complex evolutionary patterns, interspecies transmission/zoonosis, and reassortment events of rotaviruses. In 2008, the whole genome-based RVA genotyping scheme was introduced, providing researchers with a uniform platform to study the overall genetic diversity of RVAs. Since then, we have performed whole genome sequencing on several RVAs detected in humans, cattle, pigs and horses, including archival and reference strains. Analyses of these RVA whole genome sequences provided a plethora of conclusive, crucial, and/or new data on (i) emergence of novel RVA genotypes, (ii) zoonosis including the first conclusive evidence for transmission of RVAs from wildlife (simian) to humans, (iii) interspecies transmission of RVAs between farm animals, (iv) reassortment events involving RVAs from different host species including those between human and animal RVA strains, and (v) rare inter-genogroup reassortment events. Taken together, our findings provided vital insights into the complex genodynamics and interspecies transmission of RVAs, with implications on public health.