Bovine Coronavirus: Variability, Evolution, and Dispersal Patterns of a No Longer Neglected Betacoronavirus

Abstract

Bovine coronavirus (BoCV) is an important pathogen of cattle, causing severe enteric disease and playing a role in the bovine respiratory disease complex. Similar to other coronaviruses, a remarkable variability characterizes both its genome and biology. Despite their potential relevance, different aspects of the evolution of BoCV remain elusive. The present study reconstructs the history and evolution of BoCV using a phylodynamic approach based on complete genome and spike protein sequences. The results demonstrate high mutation and recombination rates affecting different parts of the viral genome. In the spike gene, this variability undergoes significant selective pressures—particularly episodic pressure—located mainly on the protein surface, suggesting an immune-induced selective pressure. The occurrence of compensatory mutations was also identified. On the contrary, no strong evidence in favor of host and/or tissue tropism affecting viral evolution has been proven. The well-known plasticity is thus ascribable to the innate broad viral tropism rather than mid- or long-term adaptation. The evaluation of the geographic spreading pattern clearly evidenced two clusters: a European cluster and an American–Asian cluster. While a relatively dense and quick migration network was identified in the former, the latter was dominated by the primary role of the United States (US) as a viral exportation source. Since the viral spreading pattern strongly mirrored the cattle trade, the need for more intense monitoring and preventive measures cannot be underestimated as well as the need to enforce the vaccination of young animals before international trade, to reduce not only the clinical impact but also the transferal and mixing of BoCV strains.

Clinical evidence that the pandemic from 1889 to 1891 commonly called the Russian flu might have been an earlier coronavirus pandemic

“…Further insight into this question whether the Russian flu was caused by a coronavirus, particularly a bovine coronavirus, can be expected from current veterinary experience with BCoV infections (Franzo et al., 2020 ; Saif and Jung, 2020 ; Colina et al ., 2021 ; Hodnik et al ., 2020 ). Two features characterize BCoV: first, it has a broad host range including wild ruminants and a substantial zoonotic potential and second, it has a dual tropism for the respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts.…”

One Health and Cattle Genetic Resources: Mining More than 500 Cattle Genomes to Identify Variants in Candidate Genes Potentially Affecting Coronavirus Infections

“…Some CoV have been shown to be multi-host pathogens as they require an intermediate host before being able to infect humans (e.g., cattle for HCoV-OC43, alpacas for HCoV-229E, palm civets for SARS-CoV and dromedary camels for MERS-CoV). At present, Bovine coronavirus (BCoV) is the only known CoV mainly infecting the cattle ( Bos taurus ), with several isolates which have high morbidity but low mortality [ 21 , 22 , 23 ]. The following elements underline call for One Health strategies in the face of these infecting agents: (i) the biological characteristics of most CoV and their ability to cross species barriers, (ii) the high mutation rate of the CoVs, which can determine quite a large host spectrum for every CoV) and (iii) the high potential negative impacts of many CoVs.…”

Preparing for Emerging Zoonotic Viruses

“…Also, serological assays can be an additional tool to gain insight in the potential and scale of animal-to-human transmission, when combined with epidemiological information on exposure, as was done for mink farm employees on SARS-CoV-2 on infected mink farms ( Oude Munnink et al ., 2020b ; Sikkema et al ., 2016 ). However, it is important to realize that coronaviruses including betacoronaviruses are common in many animal species, and can result in cross reactivity and false positives ( Franzo et al ., 2020 ; Nemoto et al ., 2019 ; Erles and Brownlie, 2008 ).…”