Rotavirus species A (RVA) is the etiological agent of acute gastroenteritis in young individuals of various animal species, including humans. Vaccination has helped to reduce the impact of these viruses on humans and some species of domestic mammals, but they do not confer complete immunity, so antirotavirus agents are another important control option. In this study, millimolar concentrations of benzimidazole inhibited the replication of the Rhesus rotavirus (RRV) strain of RVA. Two mutants partially resistant to the inhibitory effect of benzimidazole were independently selected, and their genomes and those of their parental strains were fully sequenced. Most (7/11) mutations occurred in the gene that encodes the VP2 protein, and similarly most of the missense mutations (5/9), including the only one shared by the two mutants (G2,414 → R[G/A], D800 N), occurred in the VP2 gene. Our results identify the VP2 gene as the primary target affected by benzimidazole.

轮状病毒 A 种 (RVA) 是包括人类在内的各种动物物种的年轻个体急性胃肠炎的病原体。疫苗接种有助于减少这些病毒对人类和某些家养哺乳动物的影响，但它们不能赋予完全的免疫力，因此抗轮状病毒药物是另一个重要的控制选择。在这项研究中，毫摩尔浓度的苯并咪唑抑制了 RVA 的恒河猴轮状病毒 (RRV) 株的复制。独立选择了两个对苯并咪唑的抑制作用具有部分抗性的突变体，并对它们的基因组及其亲本菌株的基因组进行了完整测序。大多数 (7/11) 突变发生在编码 VP2 蛋白的基因中，类似地，大多数错义突变 (5/9) 包括两个突变体共有的一个 (G2,414 → R[G/A] , D800 N)，发生在 VP2 基因中。我们的结果确定 VP2 基因是受苯并咪唑影响的主要目标。