STRUCTURAL AND FUNCTIONAL-ANALYSIS OF THE S-PROTEINS OF 2 HUMAN CORONAVIRUS OC43 STRAINS ADAPTED TO GROWTH IN DIFFERENT CELLS

The receptor-binding activity of strain CU (grown in MDCK I cells) and of strain VA (adapted to Vero cells) of human coronavirus OC43 was an alyzed and compared with the binding activity of bovine coronavirus (B CV) and of the OC43 strain provided by the American Type Culture Colle ction (AT). Results obtained with resialylated erythrocytes indicated that the ability of the viruses to recognize 9-O-acetylated sialic aci d in an alpha 2,6-linkage decreased in the following order: AT > CU > BCV > VA. Only minor differences were observed with respect to the alp ha 2,3-linkage. The amino acid sequence of the S protein of strain CU and VA was derived from the nucleotide sequence of the cloned gene. St rain VA differed from strain CU in 34 positions, 18 in the S1 and 16 i n the S2 subunit.