Rat coronavirus

Strain of virus

Rat coronavirus
Virus classification
(unranked):	Virus
Realm:	Riboviria
Kingdom:	Orthornavirae
Phylum:	Pisuviricota
Class:	Pisoniviricetes
Order:	Nidovirales
Family:	Coronaviridae
Genus:	Betacoronavirus
Subgenus:	Embecovirus
Species:	Murine coronavirus
Strain:	Rat coronavirus
Strains
Sialodacryoadenitis virus (SDAV) Parker's Rat Coronavirus (PRC) CARS RCV-BCMM RCV-W RCV-NJ

Rat coronavirus, or RCV, is a strain or subspecies of Murine coronavirus that infects rats.^[1] The earliest discovered strains of Rat coronavirus were Sialodacryoadenitis virus, also known as SDAV, and Parker's Rat Coronavirus (PRC). Four other substrains have since been discovered; CARS, RCV-BCMM, RCV-W and RCV-NJ.^[2]

Virology

The viral particles of RCV are irregular to round and about 120 to 160 nm in size. They cannot be distinguished morphologically from other members of the genus Coronavirus.

Genome

The rat coronavirus is a single-stranded RNA virus with positive polarity that is approximately 27 to 33 kb long.^[3]

Substrains

Sialodacryoadenitis virus, or SDAV affects the upper respiratory tract^[4]^[1] and can be transmitted between individuals by direct contact and indirectly by aerosol. It causes the disease Sialodacryoadenitis, the primary symptom of which are tropism of the salivary, lachrymal and harderian glands. Most infections are mild, but acute infections have high morbidity. It is spread among laboratory animals as well as in pets.

Parker's rat coronavirus, or PRC and most other rat coronavirus strains cause respiratory illness.^[4] Both SDAV and PRC can cause lesions in the lungs.^[5]

References

^ ^a ^b "Taxonomy browser (Embecovirus)". www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Retrieved 2020-06-08.
^ Ann Story (May–June 2009). "Rat Coronavirus". Pro-Rat-a (171). Retrieved 2020-06-11.
^ Yoo, Dongwan; Pei, Yanlong; Christie, Natasha; Cooper, Melissa (July 2000). "Primary Structure of the Sialodacryoadenitis Virus Genome: Sequence of the Structural-Protein Region and Its Application for Differential Diagnosis". Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology. 7 (4): 568–573. doi:10.1128/cdli.7.4.568-573.2000. ISSN 1071-412X. PMC 95915. PMID 10882653.
^ ^a ^b "Coronaviruses (RCV and SDAV)". dora.missouri.edu. Retrieved 2020-06-11.
^ Funk CJ, Manzer R, Miura TA, Groshong SD, Ito Y, Travanty EA, Leete J, Holmes KV, Mason RJ (December 2009). "Rat respiratory coronavirus infection: replication in airway and alveolar epithelial cells and the innate immune response". J Gen Virol. 90 (12): 2956–2964. doi:10.1099/vir.0.014282-0. PMC 2887555. PMID 19741068.