Antigenic relationship of the feline infectious peritonitis virus to coronaviruses of other species

Utilizing the direct and indirect fluorescent antibody procedure, the antigenic relationship of the feline infectious peritonitis virus (FIPV) to 7 other human and animal coronaviruses was studied. FIPV was found to be closely related to transmissible gastroenteritis virus (TGEV) of swine. Transmissible gastroenteritis virus and FIPV were in turn antigenically related to human coronavirus 229E (HCV-229E) and canine coronavirus (CCV). An interesting finding in the study was that the 8 coronaviruses selected for this study fell into one of two antigenically distinct groups. Viruses in each group were antigenically related to each other to varying degrees, but were antigenically unrelated to coronaviruses of the second group. The first antigenically related group was comprised of mouse hepatitis virus, type 3 (MHV-3), hemeagglutinating encephalomyelitis virus 67N (HEV-67N) of swine, calf diarrhea coronavirus (CDCV), and human coronavirus 0C43 (HCV-OC43). The second antigenically related group was comprised of FIPV, TGEV, HCV-229E and CCV.