Human noroviruses (HuNoVs) are the major cause of nonbacterial gastroenteritis epidemics. The culturable feline calicivirus and murine norovirus have been used extensively as surrogates to study HuNoV biology, as HuNoV does not grow in vitro. Additional efforts to identify new surrogates are needed, because neither of these common surrogates are truly intestinal pathogens. The newly described Tulane virus (TV) is a typical calicivirus, it is isolated from macaque stools, is cultivable in vitro, and recognizes human histo-blood group antigens. Therefore, TV is a promising surrogate for HuNoVs. In this study, we evaluated the resistance or stability of TV under various physical and environmental conditions by measuring a 50% reduction of tissue culture infective dose (TCID₅₀) by using a TV cell culture system. Due to the nature of this virus, it is hard to produce a high-titer stock through tissue culture. In our study, the maximal reduction in virus titers was 5 D (D = 1 log) in heat-denaturation and EtOH experiments, and 4 D in UV, chlorine, and pH-stability experiments. Therefore in this study, we defined the inactivation of TV as reaching a TCID₅₀/ml of 0 (a 4- to 5-D reduction in TCID₅₀, depending on the detection limit). TV was inactivated after incubation at 63°C for 5 min, incubation at 56°C for 30 min (5 D), exposure to 60 mJ/cm² of UVC radiation (4 D), or incubation at 300 ppm of free chlorine for 10 min (4 D). TV was shown to be stable from pH 3.0 to 8.0, though an obvious reduction in virus titer was observed at pH 2.5 and 9.0, and was inactivated at pH 10.0 (4 D). TV was resistant to a low concentration of EtOH (40% or lower) but was fully inactivated (5 D) by 50 to 70% EtOH after a short exposure (20 s). In contrast, quantitative real-time PCR was unable to detect, or poorly detected, virus titer reductions between treated and untreated samples described in this study.

Noroviruses (NoV) annually cause millions of cases of gastrointestinal disease in the United States. NoV are associated with raw shellfish outbreaks, particularly oysters, which are thought to bioaccumulate NoV particles during the filter-feeding process. NoV outbreaks, however, have also been known to occur from other common-source food-borne vehicles, such as lettuce, frozen raspberries, and salad. In this study, we evaluated romaine lettuce as a potential vehicle for NoV transmission by testing the binding and distribution of NoV to the surface of romaine. Recombinant Norwalk virus-like particles (rNVLP) applied to the surface of romaine lettuce localized as large clusters primarily on the leaf veins. An extract of romaine lettuce leaves in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) (romaine extract [RE]) bound rNVLP in a dose-dependent manner. RE did not bind rNVLP by histo-blood group antigens (HBGA), nor was RE competitive with rNVLP binding to porcine gastric mucin. These results suggested that non-HBGA molecules in RE bind rNVLP by a binding site(s) that is different from the defined binding pocket on the virion. Extracts of cilantro, iceberg lettuce, spinach, and celery also bound rNVLP. Samples of each of the vegetables spiked with rNVLP and tested with anti-NVLP antibody revealed by confocal microscopy the presence of rNVLP not only on the veins of cilantro but also throughout the surface of iceberg lettuce.

Aims: To characterize the specificity and effect of pH and ionic strength on the kinetics of virus binding to histo‐blood group antigens (HBGA)‐conjugated magnetic beads. Methods and Results: HBGAs from porcine gastric mucin (PGM) have been conjugated to magnetic beads (PGM‐MB) for concentration of NoV. A GII.4 virus was used for the detailed binding kinetics study and a panel of genogroup I (GI) NoVs, genogroup II (GII) NoVs and recombinant NoVs (rNoVs) were used for specificity and binding efficiency assays. We determined that NoV can be captured after 15 min of incubation with PGM‐MB, and virus recovery efficiency is decreased after extended incubation times. rNoV binding as measured by ELISA and NoV recovery as measured by quantitative reverse transcriptase‐polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR), were both enhanced significantly at acidic pH conditions. rNoV binding to PGM as measured by ELISA was increased up to 66%. While real‐time RT‐PCR analyses suggest that NoV could be concentrated as much as 1000‐fold at neutral pH, up to 3·4‐fold further increase of NoV recovery was achieved by adjusting the pH of the sample to 3·0–4·2. Variation between GI and GII viral binding to the PGM‐MB at basic pH was observed. All five GI rNoVs tested and 6 of 9 GII rNoVs were captured by PGM. All eight GI strains tested were concentrated by PGM‐MB, ranging from 28‐fold (GI.4) to 1502‐fold (GI.1). Eleven of 13 GII strains were concentrated from 30‐fold (GII.5) to 1014‐fold (GII.4, lab strain) by PGM‐MB. GI and GII rNoVs viral capsid proteins were recovered with high salt conditions, but results were inconsistent for whole virus recovery. Conclusions: All GI and 85% of GII NoVs tested could be captured and concentrated by PGM‐MB method. The binding occurred rapidly and was enhanced at low pH. Significance and Impact of the Study: These results facilitated development of a prototype method for sensitive detection of NoV in samples requiring larger volumes.

Human noroviruses (HuNoVs) are the major cause of epidemic nonbacterial gastroenteritis. Although quantitative (real-time) reverse transcription-PCR (qRT-PCR) is widely used for detecting HuNoVs, it only detects the presence of viral RNA and does not indicate viral infectivity. Human blood group antigens (HBGAs) have been identified as receptors/co-receptors for both HuNoVs and Tulane virus (TV) and are crucial for viral infection. We propose that viral infectivity can be evaluated with a molecular assay based on receptor-captured viruses. In this study, we employed TV as an HuNoV surrogate to validate the HBGA-based capture qRT-PCR method against the 50% tissue culture infectious dose (TCID ₅₀ ) method. We employed type B HBGA on an immuno-well module to concentrate TV, followed by amplification of the captured viral genome by in situ qRT-PCR. We first demonstrated that this in situ capture qRT-PCR (ISC-qRT-PCR) method could effectively concentrate and detect TV. We then treated TV under either partial or full inactivation conditions and measured the remaining infectivity by ISC-qRT-PCR and a tissue culture-based amplification method (TCID ₅₀ ). We found that the ISC-qRT-PCR method could be used to evaluate virus inactivation deriving from damage to the capsid and study interactions between the capsid and viral receptor. Heat, chlorine, and ethanol treatment primarily affect the capsid structure, which in turns affects the ability of the capsid to bind to viral receptors. Inactivation of the virus by these methods could be reflected by the ISC-qRT-PCR method and confirmed by TCID ₅₀ assay. However, the loss of the infectivity caused by damage to the viral genome (such as that from UV irradiation) could not be effectively reflected by this method. Despite this limitation, the ISC-qRT-PCR provides an alternative approach to determine inactivation of Tulane virus. A particular advantage of the ISC-qRT-PCR method is that it is also a faster and easier method to effectively recover and detect the viruses, as there is no need to extract viral RNA or to transfer the captured virus from magnetic beads to PCR tubes for further amplification. Therefore, ISC-qRT-PCR can be easily adapted for use in automated systems for multiple samples.