Objective: Human aminopeptidase N (APN/CD13/ANPEP) has been identified as the receptor for human coronavirus (HCoV) 229E. In this study, we analyzed the region of the APN gene that encodes a stretch of amino acid residues, essential for its HCoV-229E receptor function (amino acids 260-353). Methods: Full-length APN exon 3, intron 3 and exon 4, was PCR-amplified and sequenced in DNA samples from 100 unrelated Caucasian Belgian healthy volunteers. Results: We identified seven polymorphisms, including four intron 3 and three exon 4 variations. Apart from the already known C956T exon 4 mutation, the six other polymorphisms have not yet been described. The most prevalent APN variations in this population (C956T leading to an alanine to valine substitution, G978T, G987A and intron3-C389T) always occurred together at an allele frequency of 8.5%. Haploid DNA sequencing demonstrated the presence of these four variations on the same allele. Three polymorphisms in intron 3, intron3-G395C, intron3-C86T, and intron3-C429T, were identified with an allele frequency of 3.5%, 1% and 0.5% respectively. Five haplotypes were identified in the population of 100 individuals. Conclusion: These results demonstrate that there is a relatively broad spectrum of variations in the APN domain critical for coronavirus binding. The nucleotide sequence reported here has been submitted to the Gen. Bank database with the following accession number: AF527789. © 2004 International Society for Infectious Diseases. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
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