Persistent infection of bovine herpesvirus type 4 in bovine endothelial cell cultures.
Herpesviruses can establish a persistent infection in the cells and tissues of their natural hosts and thus may produce diseases due to cytolytic infections. We have isolated a herpesvirus from a bovine vascular endothelial cell culture after continuous subculturing. Typical cytopathic changes were observed in bovine endothelial cell cultures 2 days after inoculation of the virus. The virus had an icosahedral nucleocapsid of 100-150 nm in diameter and an envelope. The sequences of some DNA fragments of the virus were highly homologous to those of the bovine herpesvirus type 4 (BHV-4) strains. The DNA restriction maps of the virus and the reference strains of BHV-4, DN 599 and Movar 33/63 were very similar but not identical. Therefore, the newly isolated virus has been designated Taiwan strain. The presence of BHV-4 DNA in apparently normal bovine endothelial cell cultures was shown by Southern blot hybridization with the BamHI fragment of the newly isolated BHV-4 and was further confirmed by digestion of the DNA with BamHI plus AccI. In conclusion, we have demonstrated that BHV-4 persisted in the bovine endothelial cell cultures and continuous subcultures could lead to the production of infectious viral particles.
Lin
T M
TM
Department of Medical Technology, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan, ROC.
Shi
G Y
GY
Jiang
S J
SJ
Tsai
C F
CF
Hwang
B J
BJ
Hsieh
C T
CT
Wu
H L
HL
D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D015139:Blotting, Southern / Q000662:veterinary; D002417:Cattle; D002418:Cattle Diseases / Q000821:virology*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003588:Cytopathogenic Effect, Viral; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000737:chemistry; D004730:Endothelium, Vascular / Q000821:virology*; D006566:Herpesviridae Infections / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology; D018143:Lymphocryptovirus / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008854:Microscopy, Electron / Q000662:veterinary; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D015183:Restriction Mapping / Q000662:veterinary
D004279:DNA, Viral