Department of Microbiology & Immunology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
Virologie et Immunologie Moléculaires, INRAE, Université Paris-Saclay, 78352 Jouy-en-Josas, France.
Viruses. 2020 Jan 10;12(1):83. doi: 10.3390/v12010083.
Feline coronavirus (FCoV) is a complex viral agent that causes a variety of clinical manifestations in cats, commonly known as feline infectious peritonitis (FIP). It is recognized that FCoV can occur in two different serotypes. However, differences in the S protein are much more than serological or antigenic variants, resulting in the effective presence of two distinct viruses. Here, we review the distinct differences in the S proteins of these viruses, which are likely to translate into distinct biological outcomes. We introduce a new concept related to the non-taxonomical classification and differentiation among FCoVs by analyzing and comparing the genetic, structural, and functional characteristics of FCoV and the FCoV S protein among the two serotypes and FCoV biotypes. Based on our analysis, we suggest that our understanding of FIP needs to consider whether the presence of these two distinct viruses has implications in clinical settings.
猫冠状病毒（Feline coronavirus，FCoV）是一种复杂的病毒病原体，可引起猫的多种临床表现，通常被称为猫传染性腹膜炎（Feline infectious peritonitis，FIP）。现已认识到 FCoV 可能存在两种不同的血清型。然而，S 蛋白的差异远远超过血清学或抗原变异，导致两种截然不同的病毒的有效存在。在这里，我们综述了这两种病毒 S 蛋白的明显差异，这些差异可能导致不同的生物学结果。我们通过分析和比较两种血清型和 FCoV 生物型 FCoV 及其 S 蛋白的遗传、结构和功能特征，提出了一个与 FCoV 非分类学分类和分化相关的新概念。基于我们的分析，我们认为，我们对 FIP 的理解需要考虑这两种截然不同的病毒是否在临床环境中具有意义。
