Characterization of bovine herpesviruses isolated from six sheep and four goats by restriction endonuclease analysis and radioimmunoprecipitation.

Viral DNA from 10 herpesviruses isolated from 6 sheep and 4 goats were examined by restriction endonuclease analysis with respect to their relatedness to one another; to bovine herpesvirus type 6 (BHV-6), also known as caprine herpesvirus; and to 2 strains of bovine herpesvirus type 1 (BHV-1), known as infectious bovine rhinotracheitis virus (IBRV) and infectious pustular vulvovaginitis virus (IPVV). Viral proteins from the isolates were examined by radioimmunoprecipitation with anti-BHV-1/IBRV gnotobiotic calf (bovine) serum, anti-BHV-1/IBRV bovine hyperimmune serum, and anti-BHV-6 rabbit serum to evaluate their antigenic relatedness to each other. The goat isolates were obtained from animals with various disease conditions including respiratory tract disorders, vulvovaginitis, and wart-like lesions on the eyelid. The other isolates were from domestic sheep and came from aborted fetuses or from sheep with fatal pneumonia or proliferative lesions around lips and nose. All of the goats and 4 of the sheep from which the viral isolates were obtained had comingled with cattle. Purified DNA from each of the 10 field isolates and from BHV-1/IBRV, BHV-1/IPVV, and BHV-6 caprine herpesvirus was cleaved with restriction endonuclease Pst I. Five of 6 sheep isolates and 3 of 4 goat isolates yielded unique restriction patterns, ie, patterns that differed from each other by one or more bands. Sheep isolate DNA patterns were different from goat isolate patterns, and all restriction endonuclease analysis patterns were similar to the pattern for BHV-1/IBRV, but different from that for BHV-1/IPVV or for BHV-6.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)