Recombination of Feline calicivirus within an endemically infected cat colony

1 Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, University of Liverpool Veterinary Teaching Hospital, Leahurst, Chester High Road, Neston, South Wirral CH64 7TE, UK 2 Department of Veterinary Pathology, University of Liverpool Veterinary Teaching Hospital, Leahurst, Chester High Road, Neston, South Wirral CH64 7TE, UK Correspondence K. P. Coyne kpcoyne{at}liv.ac.uk To understand the evolution of the family Caliciviridae , the persistence of Feline calicivirus (FCV) was studied within an endemically infected cat colony. Polymerase and capsid sequences were analysed for 34 FCV isolates obtained over a 4 year period. Initially, the colony was infected with one strain of virus, but a second distinct strain was later identified. Subsequently, the emergence of a recombinant virus was observed, containing elements of both of the strains circulating within the colony. The recombination event mapped close to the ORF1/ORF2 junction. This is consistent with recombination in other caliciviruses, suggesting a common mechanism within this family. This is the first report of recombination within the genus Vesivirus in the family Caliciviridae and the first time that a recombination event has been observed where the parental strains have also been identified. The GenBank/EMBL/DDBJ accession numbers for the sequences of V024, V037, W104, S298 and W112 determined in this work are DQ182628 –DQ182632 , respectively.