{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,30]],"date-time":"2026-07-30T09:18:17Z","timestamp":1785403097470,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":43,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,20]],"date-time":"2026-06-20T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1781913600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Key Project of Medicine Discipline of Guangzhou","award":["2025\u20132027-11"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2025\u20132027-11"]}]},{"name":"Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Pathogen Detection for Emerging Infectious Disease Response","award":["2023B1212010010"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2023B1212010010"]}]},{"name":"Chinese Preventive Medicine Association","award":["CPMA2024CRBFK"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["CPMA2024CRBFK"]}]},{"award":["CPMA2024CRBFK"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["CPMA2024CRBFK"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/008p7xh83","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Nanning Center for Disease Control and Prevention","award":["NNCDC202502"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NNCDC202502"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Viruses"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Objective: We aimed to elucidate the epidemiological characteristics and co-infection status of HBoV in Guangzhou and to investigate the potential recombination events and alterations in antigenic properties among circulating HBoV strains. Methods: Utilizing respiratory specimens collected from patients at sentinel surveillance hospitals in Guangzhou between August 2023 and December 2025, multiplex pathogen detection was performed. We describe the temporal and demographic distribution of HBoV in Guangzhou and determine its co-infection patterns. Subsequent sequence analysis focused on identifying potential recombination events and characterizing antigenic properties. Results: The epidemiological features of HBoV in Guangzhou exhibited a primary epidemic peak around the autumn season, followed closely by a secondary peak. HBoV infection was predominantly observed in children under three years of age. Co-infections with rhinovirus and parainfluenza virus were common. Whole-genome sequencing yielded 15 complete HBoV genome sequences. Recombination analysis and verification suggested potential recombination events in two of these sequences. A comparative analysis of the antigenic characteristics of one identified recombinant strain, GZ-2024-20891, against its putative parental strains and domestic prevalent strains revealed potential alterations in its antigenic characteristic. Conclusions: Bocavirus is highly prevalent among young children under 3 years of age, with a secondary peak following the main epidemic peaks around autumn in Guangzhou. Genetic recombination and potential antigenic alteration were detected in bocavirus.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/v18060686","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,25]],"date-time":"2026-06-25T05:48:16Z","timestamp":1782366496000},"page":"686","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Analysis of Epidemiological and Molecular Characteristics of Bocavirus in Guangzhou"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"18","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0009-7834-8481","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yifan","family":"Pan","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Public Health, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou 511436, China"},{"name":"Guangzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Guangzhou Health Supervision Institute), Guangzhou 510440, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Pingting","family":"Zhu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Guangzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Guangzhou Health Supervision Institute), Guangzhou 510440, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yiyun","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Guangzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Guangzhou Health Supervision Institute), Guangzhou 510440, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jingjing","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Guangzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Guangzhou Health Supervision Institute), Guangzhou 510440, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yanhui","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Guangzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Guangzhou Health Supervision Institute), Guangzhou 510440, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4360-3322","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Shuiping","family":"Hou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Guangzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Guangzhou Health Supervision Institute), Guangzhou 510440, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Anna","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Guangzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Guangzhou Health Supervision Institute), Guangzhou 510440, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5592-5153","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Xinwei","family":"Wu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Guangzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Guangzhou Health Supervision Institute), Guangzhou 510440, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Pengzhe","family":"Qin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Guangzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Guangzhou Health Supervision Institute), Guangzhou 510440, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lan","family":"Cao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Public Health, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou 511436, China"},{"name":"Guangzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Guangzhou Health Supervision Institute), Guangzhou 510440, China"},{"name":"School of Public Health, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,20]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"12891","DOI":"10.1073\/pnas.0504666102","article-title":"Cloning of a human parvovirus by molecular screening of respiratory tract samples","volume":"102","author":"Allander","year":"2005","journal-title":"Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"7761","DOI":"10.1128\/JVI.00708-16","article-title":"Analysis of cis and trans Requirements for DNA Replication at the Right-End Hairpin of the Human Bocavirus 1 Genome","volume":"90","author":"Shen","year":"2016","journal-title":"J. Virol."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"696604","DOI":"10.3389\/fmicb.2021.696604","article-title":"Recent Advances in Molecular Biology of Human Bocavirus 1 and Its Applications","volume":"12","author":"Shao","year":"2021","journal-title":"Front. Microbiol."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e00443-18","DOI":"10.1128\/JVI.00443-18","article-title":"The 5\u2019 Untranslated Region of Human Bocavirus Capsid Transcripts Regulates Viral mRNA Biogenesis and Alternative Translation","volume":"92","author":"Liu","year":"2018","journal-title":"J. Virol."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Ning, K., Wang, Z., Cheng, F., Yan, Z., and Qiu, J. (2022). The small nonstructural protein NP1 of human bocavirus 1 directly interacts with Ku70 and RPA70 and facilitates viral DNA replication. PLoS Pathog., 18.","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.ppat.1010578"},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Trapani, S., Caporizzi, A., Ricci, S., and Indolfi, G. (2023). Human Bocavirus in Childhood: A True Respiratory Pathogen or a \u201cPassenger\u201d Virus? A Comprehensive Review. Microorganisms, 11.","DOI":"10.3390\/microorganisms11051243"},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e02375-16","DOI":"10.1128\/JVI.02375-16","article-title":"Parvovirus Expresses a Small Noncoding RNA That Plays an Essential Role in Virus Replication","volume":"91","author":"Wang","year":"2017","journal-title":"J. Virol."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e2320782121","DOI":"10.1073\/pnas.2320782121","article-title":"N6-methyladenosine modification of a parvovirus-encoded small noncoding RNA facilitates viral DNA replication through recruiting Y-family DNA polymerases","volume":"121","author":"Ning","year":"2024","journal-title":"Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA"},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"46","DOI":"10.1002\/rmv.720","article-title":"Human bocavirus-the first 5 years","volume":"22","author":"Jartti","year":"2012","journal-title":"Rev. Med. Virol."},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e2482","DOI":"10.1002\/rmv.2482","article-title":"Human bocavirus respiratory infection: Tracing the path from viral replication and virus-cell interactions to diagnostic methods","volume":"33","author":"Boggio","year":"2023","journal-title":"Rev. Med. Virol."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"418","DOI":"10.1016\/S2352-4642(19)30057-4","article-title":"Human bocaviruses and paediatric infections","volume":"3","author":"Christensen","year":"2019","journal-title":"Lancet Child Adolesc. Health"},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"227","DOI":"10.7883\/yoken.JJID.2023.251","article-title":"Clinical Course and Molecular Characterization of Human Bocavirus Associated with Acute Lower Respiratory Tract Infections in a Tertiary Care Hospital in Northern India","volume":"77","author":"Sarkar","year":"2024","journal-title":"Jpn. J. Infect. Dis."},{"key":"ref_13","first-page":"1","article-title":"Clinical aspects of human Bocavirus 1 in a sample of Egyptian infants with acute lower respiratory tract infection: A pilot study","volume":"19","author":"Mohamed","year":"2024","journal-title":"J. Arab. Soc. Med. Res."},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Xu, L., He, X., Zhang, D., Feng, F., Wang, Z., Guan, L., Wu, J., Zhou, R., Zheng, B., and Yuen, K. (2012). Surveillance and Genome Analysis of Human Bocavirus in Patients with Respiratory Infection in Guangzhou, China. PLoS ONE, 7.","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0044876"},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"vev003","DOI":"10.1093\/ve\/vev003","article-title":"RDP4: Detection and analysis of recombination patterns in virus genomes","volume":"1","author":"Martin","year":"2015","journal-title":"Virus Evol."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"152","DOI":"10.1128\/JVI.73.1.152-160.1999","article-title":"Full-Length Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Genomes from Subtype C-Infected Seroconverters in India, with Evidence of Intersubtype Recombination","volume":"73","author":"Lole","year":"1999","journal-title":"J. Virol."},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1423","DOI":"10.1089\/aid.1995.11.1423","article-title":"Identification of breakpoints in intergenotypic recombinants of HIV type 1 by bootscanning","volume":"11","author":"Salminen","year":"1995","journal-title":"AIDS Res. Hum. Retroviruses"},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"40","DOI":"10.1002\/prot.21078","article-title":"Prediction of continuous B-cell epitopes in an antigen using recurrent neural network","volume":"65","author":"Saha","year":"2006","journal-title":"Proteins"},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"387","DOI":"10.1007\/978-1-60327-118-9_29","article-title":"Prediction methods for B-cell epitopes","volume":"409","author":"Saha","year":"2007","journal-title":"Methods Mol. Biol."},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"243","DOI":"10.1002\/jmr.893","article-title":"Predicting linear B-cell epitopes using string kernels","volume":"21","author":"Dobbs","year":"2008","journal-title":"J. Mol. Recognit."},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e4497","DOI":"10.1002\/pro.4497","article-title":"BepiPred-3.0: Improved B-cell epitope prediction using protein language models","volume":"31","author":"Clifford","year":"2022","journal-title":"Protein Sci."},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"W526","DOI":"10.1093\/nar\/gkae407","article-title":"Next-generation IEDB tools: A platform for epitope prediction and analysis","volume":"52","author":"Yan","year":"2024","journal-title":"Nucleic Acids Res."},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"W449","DOI":"10.1093\/nar\/gkaa379","article-title":"NetMHCpan-4.1 and NetMHCIIpan-4.0: Improved predictions of MHC antigen presentation by concurrent motif deconvolution and integration of MS MHC eluted ligand data","volume":"48","author":"Reynisson","year":"2020","journal-title":"Nucleic Acids Res."},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"835454","DOI":"10.3389\/fimmu.2022.835454","article-title":"Accurate MHC Motif Deconvolution of Immunopeptidomics Data Reveals a Significant Contribution of DRB3, 4 and 5 to the Total DR Immunopeptidome","volume":"13","author":"Kaabinejadian","year":"2022","journal-title":"Front. Immunol."},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Doytchinova, I.A., and Flower, D.R. (2007). VaxiJen: A server for prediction of protective antigens, tumour antigens and subunit vaccines. BMC Bioinform., 8.","DOI":"10.1186\/1471-2105-8-4"},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"493","DOI":"10.1038\/s41586-024-07487-w","article-title":"Accurate structure prediction of biomolecular interactions with AlphaFold 3","volume":"630","author":"Abramson","year":"2024","journal-title":"Nature"},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Ponomarenko, J., Bui, H.H., Li, W., Fusseder, N., Bourne, P.E., Sette, A., and Peters, B. (2008). ElliPro: A new structure-based tool for the prediction of antibody epitopes. BMC Bioinform., 9.","DOI":"10.1186\/1471-2105-9-514"},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1074484","DOI":"10.3389\/fped.2022.1074484","article-title":"Comparison of the clinical features of human bocavirus and metapneumovirus lower respiratory tract infections in hospitalized children in Suzhou, China","volume":"10","author":"Tang","year":"2023","journal-title":"Front. Pediatr."},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"182","DOI":"10.1186\/1743-422X-8-182","article-title":"Recombination analysis based on the complete genome of bocavirus","volume":"8","author":"Fu","year":"2011","journal-title":"Virol. J."},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1633","DOI":"10.1086\/652416","article-title":"Human Bocaviruses Are Highly Diverse, Dispersed, Recombination Prone, and Prevalent in Enteric Infections","volume":"201","author":"Kapoor","year":"2010","journal-title":"J. Infect. Dis."},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"104453","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jcv.2020.104453","article-title":"Human Bocavirus infection and respiratory tract disease identified in a UK patient cohort","volume":"129","author":"Bagasi","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. Clin. Virol."},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"594","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ijid.2021.01.058","article-title":"The moving epidemic method applied to influenza surveillance in Guangdong, China","volume":"104","author":"Kang","year":"2021","journal-title":"Int. J. Infect. Dis."},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Lei, H., Yang, L., Wang, G., Zhang, C., Xin, Y., Sun, Q., and Li, Y. (2022). Transmission Patterns of Seasonal Influenza in China between 2010 and 2018. Viruses, 14.","DOI":"10.3390\/v14092063"},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1161","DOI":"10.1111\/irv.13047","article-title":"Characterization of influenza seasonality in China, 2010\u20132018: Implications for seasonal influenza vaccination timing","volume":"16","author":"Liao","year":"2022","journal-title":"Influenza Other Respir. Viruses"},{"key":"ref_35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"16299","DOI":"10.1038\/s41598-024-65006-3","article-title":"Epidemiological characteristics of common respiratory pathogens in children","volume":"14","author":"Lv","year":"2024","journal-title":"Sci. Rep."},{"key":"ref_36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Lei, C., Yang, L., Lou, C.T., Yang, F., SiTou, K.I., Hu, H., and Chen, Z. (2021). Viral etiology and epidemiology of pediatric patients hospitalized for acute respiratory tract infections in Macao: A retrospective study from 2014 to 2017. BMC Infect. Dis., 21.","DOI":"10.1186\/s12879-021-05996-x"},{"key":"ref_37","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e1425","DOI":"10.1016\/S2214-109X(25)00188-3","article-title":"Regional and type-specific variations in the global seasonality of human parainfluenza viruses and the influence of climatic factors: A systematic review and meta-analysis","volume":"13","author":"Chen","year":"2025","journal-title":"Lancet Glob. Health"},{"key":"ref_38","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"ofad500.077","DOI":"10.1093\/ofid\/ofad500.077","article-title":"Characteristics and Seasonality of Children Hospitalized with Parainfluenza Virus Infections (PIV), including PIV-4, New Vaccine Surveillance Network, 2016\u20132020","volume":"10","author":"Qwaider","year":"2023","journal-title":"Open Forum. Infect. Dis."},{"key":"ref_39","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"7739","DOI":"10.1128\/JVI.00614-09","article-title":"Human Bocavirus Can Be Cultured in Differentiated Human Airway Epithelial Cells","volume":"83","author":"Dijkman","year":"2009","journal-title":"J. Virol."},{"key":"ref_40","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"58","DOI":"10.1111\/imm.12202","article-title":"Immunogenicity of recombinant human bocavirus-1,2 VP2 gene virus-like particles in mice","volume":"142","author":"Deng","year":"2014","journal-title":"Immunology"},{"key":"ref_41","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"193","DOI":"10.1016\/j.molimm.2017.11.024","article-title":"In silico prediction of potential vaccine candidates on capsid protein of human bocavirus 1","volume":"93","author":"Kalyanaraman","year":"2018","journal-title":"Mol. Immunol."},{"key":"ref_42","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"443","DOI":"10.1089\/vim.2008.0045","article-title":"Humoral Immune Response Against Human Bocavirus VP2 Virus-Like Particles","volume":"21","author":"Lindner","year":"2008","journal-title":"Viral Immunol."},{"key":"ref_43","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"8684","DOI":"10.3748\/wjg.v22.i39.8684","article-title":"Human bocavirus: Current knowledge and future challenges","volume":"22","author":"Guido","year":"2016","journal-title":"World J. Gastroenterol."}],"container-title":["Viruses"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1999-4915\/18\/6\/686\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,25]],"date-time":"2026-06-25T06:10:47Z","timestamp":1782367847000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1999-4915\/18\/6\/686"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,20]]},"references-count":43,"journal-issue":{"issue":"6","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,6]]}},"alternative-id":["v18060686"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/v18060686","relation":{},"ISSN":["1999-4915"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1999-4915","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,20]]}}}