Pathogenicity and Antigenicity of Clones from Strains of Marek's Disease Virus and the Herpesvirus of Turkeys.

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  • 1 February 1971
    • journal article
    • Vol. 3  (2) , 295-303
Abstract
Virus was extracted by filtration from chicken embryo fibroblast cultures infected with the JM, high passage JM(JMHP), GA, and RPL39 strains of Marek's disease virus (MDV) and from the herpesvirus of turkeys (HVT) and purified by cloning. The plaques produced by clones of HVT, JMHP, and other MDV strains differed in morphology from one another. Clones of MDV varied greatly in pathogenicity for chickens, but JMHP and HVT were nonpathogenic. Two pathogenic clones of JM virus and a clone of JMHP virus lacked the A precipitin antigen present in all other clones tested. All clones had at least one B antigen in common. HVT and MDV clones with and without the A precipitin antigen could be distinguished from each other by the indirect fluorescent antibody test. Changes in virus-host cell relationships, loss of pathogenicity, and loss of the A antigens were independent events.