Spotlight on avian coronaviruses

Coronaviruses (CoVs) mainly cause enteric and/or respiratory signs. Mammalian CoVs including COVID-19 (now officially named SARS-CoV-2) belong to either the Alphacoronavirus or Betacoronavirus genera. In birds, the majority of the known CoVs belong to the Gammacoronavirus genus, whilst a small numbe...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Avian pathology 2020-07, Vol.49 (4), p.313-316
Main Authors: de Wit, J. J. (Sjaak), Cook, Jane K. A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Avian coronaviruses
Bronchitis
Coronaviridae
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
Genera
mammalian coronaviruses
Mammals
Nucleic acids
Poultry
Recombination
Ribonucleic acid
RNA
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
Species
Viral diseases
Viruses
wild birds
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Coronaviruses (CoVs) mainly cause enteric and/or respiratory signs. Mammalian CoVs including COVID-19 (now officially named SARS-CoV-2) belong to either the Alphacoronavirus or Betacoronavirus genera. In birds, the majority of the known CoVs belong to the Gammacoronavirus genus, whilst a small number are classified as Deltacoronaviruses. Gammacoronaviruses continue to be reported in an increasing number of avian species, generally by detection of viral RNA. Apart from infectious bronchitis virus in chickens, the only avian species in which CoV has been definitively associated with disease are the turkey, pheasant and guinea fowl. Whilst there is strong evidence for recombination between gammacoronaviruses of different avian species, and between betacoronaviruses in different mammals, evidence of recombination between coronaviruses of different genera is lacking. Furthermore, the recombination of an alpha or betacoronavirus with a gammacoronavirus is extremely unlikely. For recombination to happen, the two viruses would need to be present in the same cell of the same animal at the same time, a highly unlikely scenario as they cannot replicate in the same host!
ISSN:0307-9457
1465-3338
DOI:10.1080/03079457.2020.1761010