Whole genomic analysis of two potential recombinant strains within Human mastadenovirus species C previously found in Beijing, China

Human mastadenovirus species C (HAdV-C) are the most common etiologic agents of respiratory disease in young children and are frequently detected worldwide including China. Two recombinant HAdV-C strains (BJ04 and BJ09) were isolated from infants with acute respiratory infection (ARI) in Beijing in 2012–2013. The whole genome sequences (WGS) of BJ04 and BJ09 were generated and compared to other 35 HAdV-C WGSs publicly available. Phylogenetic analyses showed that the BJ04 strain might be the result of three homologous recombination events involving the parental strains JX173086 (HAdV-1), NC_001405 (HAdV-2) and LC068718 (HAdV-6), whereas BJ09 viral genome might be made of genetic elements from JX173083 (HAdV-1), KF268199 (HAdV-5), and KR699642 (strain CBJ113). Despite intratypic recombination, amino acid analysis showed that the gene repertoire of BJ04 and BJ09 were similar to type 2 viruses. Finally, this analysis revealed that at least three lineages of HAdV-C have been identified in China, represented by BJ04 related to NC_001405, BJ09 related to CBJ113, and KF951595 (strain DD28) related to virus isolated in Japan. This study showed that the frequent recombination played an important driving force for complexity of the HAdV-C epidemic in Beijing, thereby demonstrating the necessity for epidemiological and virological surveillance for HAdV-C in China.