Bovine herpesvirus 1: differentiation of IBR- and IPV-viruses and identification and functional role of their major immunogenic components.

Infectious Bovine Rhinotracheitis (IBR) and Infectious Pustular Vulvovaginitis (IPV) virus strains of Bovine Herpesvirus 1 (BHV-1) can be differentiated by restriction endonuclease digestion of their DNAs. Antigens and polypeptide patterns of isolates of these different clinical entities are almost identical. Page analysis of immunoprecipitates revealed three major immunogenic components in BHV-1 infected cells. These are glycoproteins with apparent molecular weights of 93,000 (GP93), 74,000 (GP74) and 69,000 daltons (GP69), respectively. Bovine convalescent sera and antisera, which are directed against individual precipitates derived from crossed immunoelectrophoresis, contain antibodies reacting with one or more of these glycoproteins. The experiments with these antisera demonstrate that GP74 and possibly GP93, both structural components of the BHV-1 virion, induce neutralizing antibodies, whereas GP69, a non-structural protein, does not.