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Review
. 2019 May 21;8(2):67.
doi: 10.3390/pathogens8020067.

A Contemporary View of Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) Biology and Strain-Specific Differences

Mansi C Pandya  1 , Sean M Callahan  2 , Kyryll G Savchenko  3 , Christopher C Stobart  4
Affiliations
Review

A Contemporary View of Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) Biology and Strain-Specific Differences

Mansi C Pandya et al. Pathogens. .

Abstract

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a human respiratory pathogen which remains a leading viral cause of hospitalizations and mortality among infants in their first year of life. Here, we review the biology of RSV, the primary laboratory isolates or strains which have been used to best characterize the virus since its discovery in 1956, and discuss the implications for genetic and functional variations between the established laboratory strains and the recently identified clinical isolates.

Keywords: RSV; respiratory syncytial virus; strain-specific differences; viral evolution.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors of this manuscript declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The genomic organization and virion structure of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) strain A2 are shown with each of the 10 genes color-coded based on their relative functions: Immunomodulatory (light blue), envelope structure (green), surface structures for attachment and entry (red), and replication and genomic stability (dark blue). A size scale is provided with 1 kb gradations for evaluation of gene size. NS1/NS2, nonstructural protein 1/2; N, nucleocapsid; P, phosphoprotein; M, matrix; SH, small hydrophobic glycoprotein; G, attachment glycoprotein; F, fusion glycoprotein; L, large polymerase protein (RdRP).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Phylogenetic analysis of an alignment of the RSV G gene sequences of common laboratory strains (identified in red) and contemporary clinical RSV-A and RSV-B isolates. A Bayesian inference of phylogenetic relationships between RSV G nucleotide sequences is shown. The phylogenetic outgroup was bovine RSV (BRSV). Numbers on branches are estimates for PPs (posterior probabilities) from the Bayesian inference (only numbers higher than 0.8 are shown). Common laboratory RSV-A strains A2, Long, Line 19, and Memphis (which are described in Section 2), as well as strains A2001/2-20, and A2001/3-12 (which have been more recently isolated and used to study RSV pathogenesis) are shown for phylogenetic comparison. Common laboratory RSV-B strains CH-18537 and B1 are also shown for comparison.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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