Mouse Hepatitis Virus Receptor as a Determinant of the Mouse Susceptibility to MHV Infection

Taguchi, Fumihiro; Hirai-Yuki, Asuka

It is well known that there is a difference in susceptibility to MHV infection among mouse strains. A number of works have reported differing susceptibilities to MHV infection among mouse strains from 1960 to the present (Bang and Warwick, 1960; Taguchi et al., 1976; Stohlman and Frelinger, 1978; Knobler et al., 1981) . Bang and Warwick (1960) showed that the C3H inbred strain was resistant to MHV-2 infection, while Princeton outbred mice were deemed susceptible. They further showed that susceptibility was determined by a single gene, expressed in macrophages (Bang and Warwick, 1960) . Stohlman and Frelinger (1978) reported, using a neurotropic MHV, JHMV strain, that SJL mice are resistant, while others are susceptible. By cross and backcross studies, they indicated that susceptibility is dominant, as determined by a major gene and a gene marginally influencing its susceptibility (Stohlman and Frelinger, 1978) . Thereafter, Smith et al. (1984) identified the locus of the gene that determines the susceptibility of mice to MHV infection to be on chromosome 7. From those findings, it was postulated that mouse susceptibility to MHV infection is dominant and determined mostly by a single gene located on chromosome 7. On the basis of those findings, Holmes and her colleagues identified an MHV receptor.