Novel assay to quantify recombination in a calicivirus

- Assay to determine recombination rate in calicivirus in vitro co-infection.
- Co-infection of two divergent feline calicivirus (FCV) strains.
- Recombination rate quantified with an FCV recombinant-specific RT-qPCR assay.
- RT-qPCR assay targets calicivirus recombinational “hot spot”.
- Recombination rate ∼6.8 × 10−6 single direction recombinants per one parental virus.

Recombination is an important contributor to genomic evolution in many viral families, including the Caliciviridae. While it is known that genomic recombination in caliciviruses contributes to their rapid evolution, the precise molecular mechanisms are poorly understood. The majority of reported recombination events in feline calicivirus (FCV) occur at a “hot spot” between the non-structural protein coding region (open reading frame 1) and structural protein coding region (open reading frame 2). To gain a better understanding of the rate of recombination at this point, we developed a quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) assay to quantify the rate of recombination between two divergent strains of FCV during co-infection in cell culture. The assay utilised virus-specific primers upstream and downstream of the recombinational “hot spot” that hybridise with only one of the strains in the co-infection. Recombinant progeny that shared ORF1 sequence identity with one parental virus and ORF2 sequence identity with the other parental virus, and the site of recombination, was confirmed by sequencing the amplicon generated by the assay. Recombinants were detected in co-infected cells using this assay, but not in cells infected with single strains that were mixed together following infection, thus confirming its specificity. Recombination between two FCVs in co-infected cell cultures was estimated to occur at a rate of at least 6.8 × 10−6 single direction recombinant genomes per parental virus genome. Further application of this assay will enable factors influencing recombination in caliciviruses to be explored in greater detail, both in vitro and in vivo.