title: Identification and characterization of a novel alpaca respiratory coronavirus most closely related to the human coronavirus 229E.
abstract: In 2007, a novel coronavirus associated with an acute respiratory disease in alpacas (Alpaca Coronavirus, ACoV) was isolated. Full-length genomic sequencing of the ACoV demonstrated the genome to be consistent with other Alphacoronaviruses. A putative additional open-reading frame was identified between the nucleocapsid gene and 3'UTR. The ACoV was genetically most similar to the common human coronavirus (HCoV) 229E with 92.2% nucleotide identity over the entire genome. A comparison of spike gene sequences from ACoV and from HCoV-229E isolates recovered over a span of five decades showed the ACoV to be most similar to viruses isolated in the 1960's to early 1980's. The true origin of the ACoV is unknown, however a common ancestor between the ACoV and HCoV-229E appears to have existed prior to the 1960's, suggesting virus transmission, either as a zoonosis or anthroponosis, has occurred between alpacas  and humans.
authors.affiliation: California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory System, University of California-Davis, Davis, West Health Sciences Drive, CA 95616, USA. BCrossle@cahfs.ucdavis.edu
authors.forename: Beate M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Crossley
authors.forename: Richard E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Mock
authors.forename: Scott A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Callison
authors.forename: Sharon K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Hietala
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002161:Camelids, New World / Q000821:virology*; D017934:Coronavirus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D018352:Coronavirus Infections / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology; D018732:Forensic Anthropology; D016679:Genome, Viral; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics*; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017385:Sequence Homology; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D012367:RNA, Viral; D014764:Viral Proteins