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Title: Detection of pseudorabies virus by DNA hybridization

Thesis/Dissertation ·
OSTI ID:6710039

A DNA hybridization technique was developed in order to detect the presence of pseudorabies virus (PRV) deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) in swine tissue. Seven, /sup 32/P-nick translated probes of high specific activity were prepared from transformed Escherichia coli plasmids into which Bacillus amyloliquefaciens H (Bam H1) restriction fragments of PRV-DNA had been inserted. Under optimal hybridization conditions, the minimum detection level of PRV-DNA was 10/sup -11/ g, which is equivalent to 1 copy of the PRV genome/80 host cells. PRV-DNA was detected in the DNA extracted from the tissues of 10 out of 11 swine previously shown to harbor infective virus. Furthermore, PRV-DNA was present in all four seropositive swine that had recovered from pseudorabies, where no infective virus or viral products were detected at necropsy. The PRV-DNA was present in either the anterior cerebral cortex in 2 swine, or the medulla oblongata and trigeminal ganglion in 1 swine. This perhaps indicates the portal of entry of the virus into the central nervous system. This DNA hybridization assay, which utilizes restriction fragments, may be useful for studying the dynamics and molecular biologic properties of the latency of pseudorabies virus in swine.

Research Organization:
Missouri Univ., Columbia (USA)
OSTI ID:
6710039
Resource Relation:
Other Information: Thesis (Ph. D.)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English