Efficient parvovirus B19 DNA purification and molecular cloning.

A simple and efficient method of purification and molecular cloning of Parvovirus B19 DNA directly from small quantities of viremic sera was developed. Purified virions were lysed in annealing conditions, then viral DNA purification in double strand (ds) DNA form was achieved using an affinity DNA binding matrix. Affinity purification yielded a consistently high recovery of viral DNA. Using affinity purified ds viral DNA, we efficiently and stably cloned the complete coding internal unique sequence of B19 DNA. In our cloning strategy AatII and BamHI restriction endonuclease sites were exploited. This permitted cleavage of the 5.0 kbp AatII fragment in two AatII-BamHI fragments which could be efficiently cloned in a directional way in pUC18 plasmid vector. The availability of the two cloned AatII-BamHI fragments thus allowed the construction of a full length clone in a single ligation reaction.