Simultaneous Viral Whole-Genome Sequencing and Differential Expression Profiling in Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection of Infants

: Lin GL, Golubchik T, Drysdale S, O'Connor D, Jefferies K, Brown A, de Cesare M, Bonsall D, Ansari MA, Aerssens J, Bont L, Openshaw P, Martinon-Torres F, Bowden R, Pollard AJ; RESCEU Investigators

Publisher: OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC

: 2020

: Journal of Infectious Diseases

: JOURNAL OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES

: J INFECT DIS

: 222

: supplement 7

: S666

: S671

: 6

: 0022-1899

: 1537-6613

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/infdis/jiaa448

: https://doi.org/10.1093/infdis/jiaa448

Targeted metagenomics using strand-specific libraries with target enrichment is a sensitive, generalized approach to pathogen sequencing and transcriptome profiling. Using this method, we recovered 13 (76%) complete human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) genomes from 17 clinical respiratory samples, reconstructed the phylogeny of the infecting viruses, and detected differential gene expression between 2 RSV subgroups, specifically, a lower expression of the P gene and a higher expression of the M2 gene in RSV-A than in RSV-B. This methodology can help to relate viral genetics to clinical phenotype and facilitate ongoing population-level RSV surveillance and vaccine development.