Biological and biophysical characteristics of mouse adenovirus, strain FL.

Mouse adenovirus, strain FL (MAV), is best propagated in primary rather than secondary cultures of mouse kidney cells. Virus release from the cells into the medium is fairly efficient; the average yield per cell is about 1000 TCID50. Morphological and other biophysical characteristics are those of a typical adenovirus: the icosahedral shell with a diameter of 74 nm, fiber projections of 29 nm length, its localization inside the infected kidney cells, a buoyant density in CsC1 of 1.34 g/ml, inhibition of multiplication by inhibitors of DNA synthesis. The thermostability is higher than that of human adenoviruses, whereas, in contrast to these, MAV is inactivated to a great extent by trypsin. Complete or incomplete hemagglutinin or toxin-like activity were not detected. The virus shows no cross-neutralization with human adenoviruses and a one-side cross-reaction with another murine adenovirus strain K-87. Soluble complement-fixing antigen of MAX exhibits a sedimentation rate of 12S identical to the hexon component of human adenoviruses; both antigens show a partial antigenic relationship in tests with appropriate antisera.