Association of avian reovirus M and S genes with viral behavior in vivo. I. Viral persistence.

Persistent infections were initiated in chickens with four different avian reovirus strains of varying virulence. Chickens 1 day old, 1 week old, or 2 weeks old were inoculated with each. Eight weeks later, isolates from all four parent strains were obtained; all isolates but one were from the tendons, and that was from the pancreas. Biochemical characterization of the isolates showed their genomes to be similar to those of the parent strains, although the proteins of the persistent isolates occasionally appeared to migrate differently from those of the original strains. Hybridization studies of the genes of the isolates indicated that at least two genes, S2 and S4, consistently seemed to undergo the greatest degree of mutation in the most virulent strain. These data suggest that the S2 and S4 genes may be associated with initiation and maintenance of persistent infection in vivo, and that changes in these genes may be noted by 56 days postinfection.