title: Canine and feline parvoviruses preferentially recognize the non-human cell surface sialic acid N-glycolylneuraminic acid.
abstract: Feline panleukopenia virus (FPV) is a pathogen whose canine-adapted form (canine parvovirus (CPV)) emerged in 1978. These viruses infect by binding host transferrin receptor type-1 (TfR), but also hemagglutinate erythrocytes. We show that hemagglutination involves selective recognition of the non-human sialic acid N-glycolylneuraminic acid (Neu5Gc) but not N-acetylneuraminic acid (Neu5Ac), which differs by only one oxygen atom from Neu5Gc. Overexpression of α2-6 sialyltransferase did not change binding, indicating that both α2-3 and α2-6 linkages are recognized. However, Neu5Gc expression on target cells did not enhance CPV or FPV infection in vitro. Thus, the conserved Neu5Gc-binding preference of these viruses likely plays a role in the natural history of the virus in vivo. Further studies must clarify relationships between virus infection and host Neu5Gc expression. As a first step, we show that transcripts of CMAH (which generates Neu5Gc from Neu5Ac) are at very low levels in Western dog breed cells.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny, 9500 Gilman Drive, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.
authors.forename: Jonas
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Löfling
authors.forename: Sangbom Michael
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Lyi
authors.forename: Colin R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Parrish
authors.forename: Ajit
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Varki
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002415:Cats; D004285:Dogs; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000821:virology; D028301:Feline Panleukopenia Virus / Q000378:metabolism*; D015967:Gene Expression Regulation, Viral; D006801:Humans; D008253:Macaca mulatta / Q000097:blood; D009438:Neuraminic Acids / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D002679:Pan troglodytes; D017993:Parvovirus, Canine / Q000378:metabolism*; D013045:Species Specificity; D053585:Virus Attachment
chemical_list: D009438:Neuraminic Acids; C032592:N-glycolylneuraminic acid