Association of avian reovirus M and S genes with viral behavior in vivo. II. Viral pathogenicity.

A group of avian reoviruses comprising serially passaged S1133 strains and their vaccine derivatives was examined biochemically to study the temporal evolution of the viruses and biologically to assess their relative pathogenicities. The strains fell into three groups of differing virulence, the viruses becoming less pathogenic the longer they were passaged. Protein and RNA profiles of the strains showed no distinct patterns of evolution nor any trend that could be correlated with pathogenicity. Nucleic acid hybridization studies of the strains indicated that all the genes were altered to some extent during passage. The S1 and M3 genes appeared to change the most during the first half of passage history, but later, as the virus was cold-adapted or passaged extensively, the M2, S2, and S3 genes also appeared to vary. When viruses were grouped according to virulence, the greatest changes were seen in the S1, M2, and M3 genes, suggesting that these may be associated with the virulence of a given avian reovirus strain.