The evolution and control of parvovirus host ranges

Host ranges of parvoviruses are complex, and depend on both the strain of virus and on the cell or animal being inoculated. Viruses similar to feline panleukopenia virus infect cats and cat cells in tissue culture, as well as a variety of other host animals and their cultured cells. Canine isolates infect dogs and cultured canine cells, but replication in cats depends on the type of virus. Feline and canine host ranges are determined primarily by a small number of sequence differences in the capsid protein. DNA sequences of viruses from cats, mink, raccoons and foxes could not be readily distinguished from each other. Viruses from dogs or raccoon dogs formed a distinct group, which was subdivided between the two antigenic types. Host ranges of other parvoviruses—minute virus of mice and porcine parvovirus—are also mediated primarily by sequences in the capsid protein gene, although differences in the non-structural protein genes of the minute virus of mice determine some host-range differences.