Sequence of the spike protein of the Belgian B164S isolate of nephropathogenic infectious bronchitis virus.

The sequence of the gene encoding the spike glycoprotein (S) of the 1984 Belgian nephropathogenic isolate B1648 has been determined and shown to encode a protein of 1171 amino acids. Comparison of the deduced amino acid sequence of the S1 (amino-terminal half) of S, which induces virus-neutralizing antibodies, with that of vaccinal strains D274, H120 and D1466 revealed that it differed from them by 21, 25 and 49%, respectively, and by 24 to 25% from the North American nephropathogenic isolates Gray and Holte. The deduced amino add sequence of the S2 (carboxy-terminal) half of S differed by 10 to 12% (25% from D1466).