Genomic regions of coxsackievirus B3 associated with cardiovirulence

The molecular basis for cardiovirulence in the coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3) genome was examined in a murine model of acute myocarditis. Infectious cDNAs representing a highly cardiovirulent coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3m) and a noncardiovirulent (CVB30) virus were used to construct infectious chimeric cDNAs. Assays of the resulting recombinant viruses for cardiovirulence in adolescent male CD-1 mice showed that the 5′ nontranslated region (5′ NTR) of the CVB3m genome plays the major role in determining cardiovirulence and that the genomic region encoding the capsid proteins has a minor additive effect in increasing cardiovirulence. Nucleotide sequences in the 5′ NTR of CVB3m and CVB30 differ at 23 positions; 14 are located in four stemloop motifs of the secondary structure and may influence the cardiovirulent phenotype by regulating RNA or protein synthesis. A comparison of predicted amino acid sequences of capsid proteins in CVB3m and CVB30 identified two amino acids as potential candidate contributors to cardiovirulence, i.e., amino acids at positions A207 (Asn-Asp) in the puff structure of the E-F loop of VP2 and A566 (Gln-Glu) in the C terminal of VP3 at the external surface. The data from this study and published literature support the conclusion that cardiovirulence of a CVB3 can depend on several regions of the genome. J. Med. Virol. 52:341–347, 1997. © 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.