Human coronavirus OC43 (HCoV-OC43) causes acute, self-limited respiratory infections. A close relationship between bovine coronaviruses (BCoVs) and HCoV-OC43 has recently been demonstrated. This study includes seven clinical, non-cell culture-adapted, contemporary HCoV-OC43 strains detected in France in 2003. By using RT-PCR and clonal sequencing of the S1 gene of HCoV-OC43, the inter-variant heterogeneity of the HCoV-OC43 circulating strains was studied and the intra-variant diversity was assessed by investigation of a quasispecies cloud. This paper brings to the forefront a high genetic diversity of circulating HCoV-OC43 variants. Genetically different groups are defined among the variants described in this study. One of these variants holds characteristics of an outlier and presents a deletion of 12 nt, also found in BCoV strains. Moreover, the presence of HCoV-OC43 as a quasispecies cloud in vivo during an acute respiratory-tract illness was discovered. It has also been revealed that quasispecies-cloud sizes are similar for the two viral populations tested.
AriasA.,
LázaroE.,
EscarmísC.,
DomingoE.2001; Molecular intermediates of fitness gain of an RNA virus: characterization of a mutant spectrum by biological and molecular cloning. J Gen Virol 82:1049–1060
HallT. A.1999; BioEdit: a user-friendly biological sequence alignment editor and analysis program for Windows 95/98/NT. Nucleic Acids Symp Ser 41:95–98
JeongJ.-H.,
KimG.-Y.,
YoonS.-S.& 9 other authors2005; Molecular analysis of S gene of spike glycoprotein of winter dysentery bovine coronavirus circulated in Korea during 2002–2003. Virus Res 108:207–212[CrossRef]
SánchezG.,
BoschA.,
Gómez-MarianoG.,
DomingoE.,
PintóR. M.2003; Evidence for quasispecies distributions in the human hepatitis A virus genome. Virology 315:34–42[CrossRef]
ThompsonJ. D.,
GibsonT. J.,
PlewniakF.,
JeanmouginF.,
HigginsD. G.1997; The clustal_x windows interface: flexible strategies for multiple sequence alignment aided by quality analysis tools. Nucleic Acids Res 25:4876–4882[CrossRef]
VignuzziM.,
StoneJ. K.,
ArnoldJ. J.,
CameronC. E.,
AndinoR.2006; Quasispecies diversity determines pathogenesis through cooperative interactions in a viral population. Nature 439:344–348[CrossRef]
WangW.-K.,
LinS.-R.,
LeeC.-M.,
KingC.-C.,
ChangS.-C.2002; Dengue type 3 virus in plasma is a population of closely related genomes: quasispecies. J Virol 76:4662–4665[CrossRef]
ZhangX. M.,
HerbstW.,
KousoulasK. G.,
StorzJ.1994; Biological and genetic characterization of a hemagglutinating coronavirus isolated from a diarrhoeic child. J Med Virol 44:152–161[CrossRef]