General schematic of Canine Distemper Virus
http://viralzone.expasy.org/all_by_protein/86.html
http://viralzone.expasy.org/all_by_protein/86.html
See supplemental material below.
Canine Distemper virus has a wide host range which include lions, tigers, hyenas, wolves, coyotes, raccoons, seals, martens, badger, bears and monkeys.
But not humans, not yet
Humans get measles, a closely related virus. So closely related that macaques and dogs vaccinated with measles are also immunized to CDV and monkeys vaccinated with CDV vaccine are protected from measles.
Measles and Canine Distemper Virus
- Paramyxoviridae family
- Morbillivirus genus
- single-stranded negative-sense RNA genome
- 15690 bases
- 150 nm
Interested to explore CDV’s potential to cross species and infect human hosts researchers from University of Würzburg and Bern tested the idea on two human cell lines that express the receptors targeted by the distemper virus – SLAM (aka CD150) and nectin-4.
One mutation, that’s all.
The experiment found that a single mutation in the viral protein hemagglutinin (the “H” in H1N1) effectively improves the ability of distemper to bind human CD150 receptor; specifically a change from aspartic acid to lysine at position 540 and impressively, the change took only 3 passages.
Of course receptor binding is only the first step in adapting to a new host, it takes a few more adaptive changes, though not as many as we would think.
A large un-vaccinated population makes a perfect evolutionary crucible; if CDV ever makes the jump to humans, I’m pointing the finger at the anti-vaxxers for giving evolution a helping hand.
Related Articles
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- Virus-host co-evolution: How specialised should a strain of a multi-host virus be?
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- Many Neglected Tropical Diseases May Have Originated in the Paleolithic or Before: New Insights from Genetics
REFERENCES
Bieringer, M., Han, W.J., Kendl, S., Khosravi, M., Plattet, P., and Schneider-Schaulies, J. (2013): Experimental adaptation of canine distemper virus (CDV) to the human entry receptor CD150. PLoS ONE 8(3): e57488. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0057488
Supplemental Material
Canine distemper virus |
Measles virus |
| GI:9630646 PRODUCT:nucleocapsid protein N |
GI:9626946 PRODUCT:nucleocapsid protein |
| GI:9630647 PRODUCT:phosphoprotein P |
GI:9626947 PRODUCT:phosphoprotein P |
| GI:9630648 PRODUCT:C protein |
GI:9626948 PRODUCT:C protein |
| GI:9630649 PRODUCT:matrix protein M |
GI:9626949 PRODUCT:matrix protein M |
| GI:9630650 PRODUCT:fusion protein F |
GI:9626950 PRODUCT:fusion protein |
| GI:9630651 PRODUCT:haemagglutinin protein H |
GI:9626951 PRODUCT:hemagglutinin protein H |
| GI:9630652 PRODUCT:large polymerase protein L |
GI:9626952 PRODUCT:large polymerase protein |
Science and Dogs 
Pretty interesting and a bit worrisome. I like the Nature link too and it is quite interesting to see how the virus mutated in their graphic.
Viruses are interesting, always mutating and yes, occasionally worrisome.
I subscribed to your other blog. I like reading all the science stuff, even if much is over my head. I do have some background in science from my college days as I was a premed student before architecture. I love reading papers on Science and keeping up with recent finds. Just a hobby now, but always mind expanding.
Thanks. The Abstracts blogs is a little more difficult; I try to summarize it in a sentence or two that way it’s easy to decide if you want to read more.
I saw a few I plan on reading. Blogs with value… 😀
I don’t know if you saw this article, or even if it has enough science, but I thought I thought of some of your topics. http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/01/23/people-and-dogs-a-genetic-love-story/
thanks. I hadn’t seen that, though I was familiar with the paper they mention.
Do you mean by ‘anti-vaxxers’ people who don’t vaccinate their children, or those who don’t vaccinate their dogs? Both, I guess!
Both