Gunn L, Collins P J, O'Connell M J, O'Shea H
Department of Biological Sciences, Cork Institute of Technology, Rossa Ave, Bishopstown, Cork Ireland.
Bioinformatics and Molecular Evolution Group, School of Biotechnology, Dublin City University, Glasnevin, Dublin 9 Ireland.
Ir Vet J. 2015 Dec 30;68:31. doi: 10.1186/s13620-015-0060-3. eCollection 2015.
Bovine coronavirus is a primary cause of neonatal calf diarrhea worldwide, and is also associated with acute diarrhea in adult cattle during the winter season. There are no reports on molecular characterization of bovine coronavirus in Ireland, and little data exists apart from serological studies.
In this study, 11 neonatal (mean age 9 days) calf BCoV strains from the south of Ireland were collected over a one year period and characterized using molecular methods. The spike gene which encodes a protein involved in viral entry, infectivity and immune response shows the most variability amongst the isolates and was subsequently selected for in depth analysis. Phylogenetic analysis of the spike gene revealed that the Irish strains clustered with novel BCoV strains from Europe in a unique clade, possibly indicating lineage partitioning. Direct analysis of alignments identified amino acid changes in the spike protein unique to the Irish clade.
Thus, monitoring of bovine coronavirus in Ireland is important as the current isolates in circulation in the south of Ireland may be diverging from the available vaccine strain, which may have implications regarding future BCoV vaccine efficacy.
牛冠状病毒是全球新生犊牛腹泻的主要病因，还与成年牛冬季急性腹泻有关。爱尔兰尚无关于牛冠状病毒分子特征的报道，除血清学研究外，相关数据很少。
在本研究中，在一年时间里从爱尔兰南部收集了11株新生犊牛（平均年龄9天）的牛冠状病毒毒株，并采用分子方法进行特征分析。编码参与病毒进入、感染性和免疫反应的蛋白质的刺突基因在分离株中显示出最大的变异性，随后被选作深入分析。刺突基因的系统发育分析表明，爱尔兰毒株与来自欧洲的新型牛冠状病毒毒株聚集在一个独特的进化枝中，这可能表明谱系划分。序列比对的直接分析确定了爱尔兰进化枝特有的刺突蛋白中的氨基酸变化。
因此，监测爱尔兰的牛冠状病毒很重要，因为目前在爱尔兰南部流行的分离株可能与现有的疫苗毒株不同，这可能对未来牛冠状病毒疫苗的效力产生影响。
