Isolation and Characterization of Contemporary Bovine Coronavirus Strains

Abstract

Bovine coronavirus (BCoV) poses a threat to cattle health worldwide, contributing to both respiratory and enteric diseases. However, few contemporary strains have been isolated. In this study, 71 samples (10 nasal and 61 fecal) were collected from one farm in Ohio in 2021 and three farms in Georgia in 2023. They were screened by BCoV-specific real-time reverse transcription-PCR, and 15 BCoV-positive samples were identified. Among them, five BCoV strains from fecal samples were isolated using human rectal tumor-18 (HRT-18) cells. The genomic sequences of five strains were obtained. The phylogenetic analysis illustrated that these new strains clustered with US BCoVs that have been detected since the 1990s. Sequence analyses of the spike proteins of four pairs of BCoVs, with each pair originally collected from the respiratory and enteric sites of one animal, revealed the potential amino acid residue patterns, such as D1180 for all four enteric BCoVs and G1180 for three of four respiratory BCoVs. This project provides new BCoV isolates and sequences and underscores the genetic diversity of BcoVs, the unknown mechanisms of disease types, and the necessity of sustained surveillance and research for BCoVs.