Phenotypic and genotypic variation of feline calicivirus during persistent infection of cats

Amino acid sequence of the capsid protein hypervariable region of nine feline calicivirus (FCV) isolates recovered from cats persistently infected after inoculation with the FCV strain 255 parent virus is reported. Capsid proteins from all the isolates were highly cross reactive by Western blot analysis using polyclonal antisera to FCV. Reverse-transcription PCR was used to obtain sequence information of the FCV capsid protein highly variable E region. Amino acid substitutions occurred between residues 426 and 458 of the FCV capsid protein E region. The sequence data and phylogenetic reconstructions based on the sequence information correlated well with antigenic differences among isolates determined by two-way cross neutralization. These results agree with previous reports using divergent isolates of FCV that correlated amino acid differences with serology. This further supports the hypothesis that the FCV capsid protein E region from residues 426 to 458 contains the serotypic determinants of FCV important to antigenic variation.