Restriction endonuclease analysis of bovine herpesvirus 1 DNA and nucleic acid homology between isolates.

Isolates of bovine herpesvirus 1 (BHV-1) are associated with a variety of clinical manifestations. To determine if a single form of BHV-1 was responsible for the different virus-associated diseases or whether subpopulations of various isolates produced different clinical symptoms, studies were initiated to examine the DNA restriction enzyme patterns and nucleic acid homology between virus isolates from respiratory infections and other clinical syndromes. Differences between the genomes of several virus isolates were detected using DNA restriction enzyme analyses. However, nucleic acid hybridization studies of the virus DNAs using filter and liquid hybridization indicated at least a 95% genetic homology between the virus isolates from different types of infections. Additionally, these studies demonstrated that the DNA of BHV-1 had an average molecular weight of 84 X 10(6).