Characterization of the Cross-Species Transmission Potential for Porcine Deltacoronaviruses Expressing Sparrow Coronavirus Spike Protein in Commercial Poultry

Moyasar A Alhamo; Patricia A Boley; Mingde Liu; Xiaoyu Niu; Kush Kumar Yadav; Carolyn Lee; Linda J Saif; Qiuhong Wang; Scott P Kenney

doi:10.3390/v14061225

Characterization of the Cross-Species Transmission Potential for Porcine Deltacoronaviruses Expressing Sparrow Coronavirus Spike Protein in Commercial Poultry

Viruses. 2022 Jun 5;14(6):1225. doi: 10.3390/v14061225.

Authors

Moyasar A Alhamo^{1

2}, Patricia A Boley¹, Mingde Liu¹, Xiaoyu Niu¹, Kush Kumar Yadav¹, Carolyn Lee¹, Linda J Saif¹, Qiuhong Wang¹, Scott P Kenney¹

Affiliations

¹ Center for Food Animal Health, Department of Animal Sciences, College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, The Ohio State University, Wooster, OH 44691, USA.
² UC Davis Institute for Regenerative Cures, Department of Dermatology, School of Medicine, University of California Davis, Sacramento, CA 85817, USA.

Abstract

Avian species often serve as transmission vectors and sources of recombination for viral infections due to their ability to travel vast distances and their gregarious behaviors. Recently a novel deltacoronavirus (DCoV) was identified in sparrows. Sparrow deltacoronavirus (SpDCoV), coupled with close contact between sparrows and swine carrying porcine deltacoronavirus (PDCoV) may facilitate recombination of DCoVs resulting in novel CoV variants. We hypothesized that the spike (S) protein or receptor-binding domain (RBD) from sparrow coronaviruses (SpCoVs) may enhance infection in poultry. We used recombinant chimeric viruses, which express S protein or the RBD of SpCoV (icPDCoV-S_HKU17, and icPDCoV-RBD_ISU) on the genomic backbone of an infectious clone of PDCoV (icPDCoV). Chimeric viruses were utilized to infect chicken derived DF-1 cells, turkey poults, and embryonated chicken eggs (ECEs) to examine permissiveness, viral replication kinetics, pathogenesis and pathology. We demonstrated that DF-1 cells in addition to the positive control LLC-PK1 cells are susceptible to SpCoV spike- and RBD- recombinant chimeric virus infections. However, the replication of chimeric viruses in DF-1 cells, but not LLC-PK1 cells, was inefficient. Inoculated 8-day-old turkey poults appeared resistant to icPDCoV-, icPDCoV-S_HKU17- and icPDCoV-RBD_ISU virus infections. In 5-day-old ECEs, significant mortality was observed in PDCoV inoculated eggs with less in the spike chimeras, while in 11-day-old ECEs there was no evidence of viral replication, suggesting that PDCoV is better adapted to cross species infection and differentiated ECE cells are not susceptible to PDCoV infection. Collectively, we demonstrate that the SpCoV chimeric viruses are not more infectious in turkeys, nor ECEs than wild type PDCoV. Therefore, understanding the cell and host factors that contribute to resistance to PDCoV and avian-swine chimeric virus infections may aid in the design of novel antiviral therapies against DCoVs.

Keywords: S protein; chicken embryos; coronaviruses; cross-species infection; porcine delta coronavirus; sparrow delta coronavirus; turkey poults.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Animals
Chickens
Coronavirus Infections*
Deltacoronavirus / genetics
Poultry
Sparrows*
Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus / genetics
Swine
Swine Diseases*
Turkeys

Substances

Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus

Supplementary concepts

Porcine coronavirus HKU15

Grants and funding

The project was partially supported by general funds from Dr. Linda Jean Saif. Salaries and research support were provided by Dr. Linda Jean Saif, The Ohio State University and by a SEEDS grant (2020-009, Q.W., principal investigator from College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences). Salaries and research support were provided by state and federal funds appropriated to OARDC, The Ohio State University and by general funds from Dr. Linda Jean Saif.