Detection of novel ferret coronaviruses and evidence of recombination among ferret coronaviruses

• Published in: Virus genes Vol. 52; no. 6; pp. 858 - 862
• Main Authors: Minami, Shohei, Kuroda, Yudai, Terada, Yutaka, Yonemitsu, Kenzo, Van Nguyen, Dung, Kuwata, Ryusei, Shimoda, Hiroshi, Takano, Ai, Maeda, Ken
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.12.2016; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Amino Acid Sequence; Animals; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Coronaviridae; Coronavirus Infections - veterinary; Coronavirus, Feline - genetics; Coronaviruses; DNA-directed RNA polymerase; epidemiological studies; Epidemiology; Feline coronavirus; ferrets; Ferrets - virology; Gene Order; genes; Medical Microbiology; nucleocapsid; Nucleocapsids; Nucleotide sequence; Open Reading Frames; pathogenesis; Phylogeny; Plant Sciences; Polymerase chain reaction; Recombination; Recombination, Genetic; reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction; Reverse transcription; RNA, Viral; RNA-directed RNA polymerase; Sequence analysis; Sequence Analysis, DNA; transcription (genetics); Virology; Ferret coronavirus (FRCoV); Novel genotype; Recombination
• DOI: 10.1007/s11262-016-1365-3
• ISSN: 0920-8569

In an epidemiological study of ferret coronaviruses (FRCoVs), novel FRCoV strains (Saitama-1 and Aichi-1) were detected by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and nucleotide sequence analysis of partial RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) genes. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that these strains belonged to different clusters from other FRCoV strains. Next, the nucleotide sequence of the 3′-terminal region of Saitama-1 (8271 bases) strain was determined and compared with those of the other FRCoVs, indicating that the Saitama-1 strain differed from the previously reported MSU-1 and MSU-2 strains in the regions encoding spike (S) protein, nucleocapsid, and open reading frame 7b. Furthermore, the results of SimPlot analysis indicated that FRCoV (MSU-2 strain) emerged via a recombination event of S protein between the MSU-1 and Saitama-1 strains. This mechanism is similar to that responsible for the emergence of type II feline coronavirus. This information will be useful for understanding the pathogenesis of FRCoV in ferrets.