Polioviruses, Coxsackieviruses, and Echoviruses: Comparison of the Genomes by RNA Hybridization

Hybridization of single-stranded RNA from virions of human enteroviruses with denatured double-stranded RNA from infected cells indicates that a minimum of about 5% of the genome is shared by these viruses. Polynucleotide sequence relationships, furthermore, are consistent with the biologic classification into polioviruses, coxsackieviruses groups A and B, and echoviruses. In general, about 30 to 50% of the nucleotide sequences are shared by different serotypes of virus within each of these major groups, whereas among different groups less than 20% homology is observed. Coxsackievirus B4 appears to be more closely related to echoviruses than to group A coxsackieviruses, whereas polioviruses are only distantly related to any of the other agents.