MECHANISMS CONTRIBUTING TO THE VIRUS PERSISTENCE IN ALEUTIAN DISEASE

  • 1 February 1990
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 97  (2) , 96-99
Abstract
In this review published results and further studies concerning the persistence of Aleutian disease virus (ADV) isolate SL3 are presented. By Southern blot and in situ hybridization with strand-specific RNA probes focal replication of ADV-DNA was demonstrated in spleen, mesenteric lymph nodes, sporadically in mononuclear cells of the peripheral blood and bone marrow cells. These findings further support the concept of the lymphotropism of ADV. All cell culture-adapted ADV strains appear to have a ts-defect. Our in vitro studies indicate that the ADV isolate G(orham) induced the synthesis of comparable amounts of viral replicative DNA and the viral proteins VP1 and VP2 at the non-permissive temperature of 37.degree.C. However, the viral progeny DNA synthesis was about threefold less at 37.degree.C compared to the permissive temperature of 32.degree.C. These findings suggest that the reduced level of viral progeny DNA at 37.degree.C accounts for the reduced production of infectious ADV. Finally, we provided experimental evidence that the apparent lack of neutralizing antibodies in AD is due to the masking of critical viral epitopes by cellular phospholipids.