Production and characterization of VP4/VP7 reassortant swine rotaviruses derived from Gottfried and OSU parental strains

Summary The ability of viral glycoproteins ( vp ) vp 4/ vp 7 reassortant swine rotaviruses ( rv ) to induce cross-neutralizing antibody against parental serotypes was investigated in guinea pigs. Using selective culture conditions, we produced 10 reassortant viruses that contained gene segment 4 of the OSU rv strain and gene segment 9 of the Gottfried rv strain. These reassortant rv grew to high titer in cell culture and were neutralized by monospecific antisera against both parental rv strains. The reassortant rv were chemically inactivated with binary ethylenimine, adjuvanted with aluminum hydroxide, and used to produce antisera in guinea pigs. The hyperimmune antisera had high neutralization titer against both parent rv strains. These results indicate that several of the reassortant rv may be capable of inducing neutralizing antibodies to vp 4 and vp 7 and may have future use as bivalent vaccine strains.