Coronaviridae: The Coronaviruses

Nucleotide Sequence of the Gene Encoding the Spike Glycoprotein of Human Coronavirus HCV 229E

“…Human coronaviruses (HCV) are a common cause of respiratory disease in man and it has been estimated that they are responsible for up to 20~o of common colds (Hierholzer & Tannock, 1988;Isaacs et al, 1983;Mclntosh et al, 1974). With a few exceptions, HCVs are difficult to propagate in tissue or organ culture and consequently their biology is relatively poorly understood.…”

Antigen detection in human respiratory Coronavirus infections by monoclonal time-resolved fluoroimmunoassay

“…The flasks were harvested by 2 cycles of freeze/thawing and stored in aliquots as crude working stocks for the preparation of test antigens and for antibody production. Due to the extreme lability of coronaviruses and the association of biological activities with intact virions, an aliquot was used only once, and tests were run in a manner to minimize the exposure of virus to ambient temperatures (Kaye et al, 1970;Hierholzer, 1976;Hierholzer and Tannock, 1988).…”

“…Production of monoclonals. The production of monoclonal antibodies to human coronaviruses was more problematic than usual because of the prevalence of latent murine coronaviruses (the mouse hepatitis viruses) in mouse colonies and the strong antigenic cross-reactions between OC43 and many strains of MHV (reviewed in Robb and Bond, 1979;Macnaughton, 1981;Siddell et al, 1983;Hierholzer and Tannock, 1988). Thus, our mouse colonies were carefully monitored by EIA for serologic evidence of MHV infection Organon Teknika Corp.,Durham,NC), as well as by EIA for infection by other murine viruses, to ensure that adventitious viruses would not compromise the OC43 monoclonals.…”

“…The protein specificity of these clones was determined by Western blots. The first blots reacted the electrophoresed viral proteins with hyperimmune rabbit antisera to 229E and mouse, guinea pig, and rabbit antisera to OC43, followed by the appropriate anti-species peroxidase, to confirm the presence of coronavirus proteins in the test lanes (Schmidt and Kenny, 1982;Hierholzer and Tannock, 1988;Arpin & Talbot, 1990); replicate lanes were then reacted with the individual monoclonals, followed by anti-mouse peroxidase. All eleven 229E and OC43 monoclonals with suitable EIA titers were directed to the nucleoprotein (N), which had a mean molecular weight of 51.3 kDa in the reducing gels (Table 1 ).…”

Evaluation of Human Adenoviruses 38, 39, 40, and 41 as New Serotypes

“…Several new adenovirus (Ad) serotypes have recently been described and viewed with interest because Ads are so extensively involved in human disease [1][2][3]. The process for accepting a new virus type that has been adequately described in the literature has changed since 1977 and bears reviewing here.…”