Isolation of a Bisegmented Double-stranded RNA Virus from Thirlmere Reservoir

Abstract
A novel bisegmented double-stranded RNA virus was isolated from water processed from Thirlmere reservoir. The virus is icosahedral, 58 nm in diameter has a buoyant density of 1.32 g/ml in CsCl, has a sedimentation coefficient of 400 S and a RNA/protein ratio of 0.087. The 2 linear segments of RNA have .apprx. 2.26 .times. 106 and .apprx. 2.09 .times. 106. The virus contains 6 polypeptides. The virus was isolated in Drosophila melanogaster cells and fails to replicate in other insect, amphibian, avian piscine, mammalian and plant cells tested. The virus is biochemically different from infectious pancreatic necrosis virus (IPNV) and Drosophila X virus (DXV). The virus is also serologically unrelated to IPNV (strain Sp) and another invertebrate pathogenic virus, Tellina virus 1. The virus shares common antigens with DXV but is not completely identical.