title: Isolation and molecular characterization of type I and type II feline coronavirus in Malaysia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Feline infectious peritonitis virus (FIPV) and feline enteric coronavirus (FECV) are two important coronaviruses of domestic cat worldwide. Although FCoV is prevalent among cats; the fastidious nature of type I FCoV to grow on cell culture has limited further studies on tissue tropism and pathogenesis of FCoV. While several studies reported serological evidence for FCoV in Malaysia, neither the circulating FCoV isolated nor its biotypes determined. This study for the first time, describes the isolation and biotypes determination of type I and type II FCoV from naturally infected cats in Malaysia.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the total number of cats sampled, 95% (40/42) were RT-PCR positive for FCoV. Inoculation of clinical samples into Crandell feline kidney cells (CrFK), and Feline catus whole fetus-4 cells (Fcwf-4), show cytopathic effect (CPE) characterized by syncytial cells formation and later cell detachment. Differentiation of FCoV biotypes using RT-PCR assay revealed that, 97.5% and 2.5% of local isolates were type I and type II FCoV, respectively. These isolates had high sequence homology and phylogenetic similarity with several FCoV isolates from Europe, South East Asia and USA.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study reported the successful isolation of local type I and type II FCoV evident with formation of cytopathic effects in two types of cell cultures namely the CrFK and Fcwf-4 , where the later cells being more permissive. However, the RT-PCR assay is more sensitive in detecting the antigen in suspected samples as compared to virus isolation in cell culture. The present study indicated that type I FCoV is more prevalent among cats in Malaysia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Pathology and Microbiology, Universiti Putra Malaysia, UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Alazawy
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Amer
authors.forename: Arshad
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Siti Suri
authors.forename: Omar
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Abdul Rahman
authors.forename: Hair Bejo
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Mohd
authors.forename: Bande
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Faruku
authors.forename: Sharif
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Saeed
authors.forename: Tengku Ibrahim
authors.initials: TI
authors.lastname: Tengku Azmi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002415:Cats; D002460:Cell Line; D016765:Coronavirus, Feline / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D016766:Feline Infectious Peritonitis / Q000821:virology*; D005260:Female; D008296:Malaysia; D008297:Male; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D064370:Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins; D064370:Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins