Evaluation of field isolates of pseudorabies (Aujeszky's disease) virus as determined by restriction endonuclease analysis and hybridization.

Sixty-seven isolates of pseudorabies virus (PRV) from 13 states were cleaved with 4 restriction endonucleases (RE), and after electrophoresis in agarose, their banding patterns were photographed and evaluated. The deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) cleavage fragments were designated into regions specified by molecular weight ranges based on lambda phage DNA as a size marker. The 67 PRV isolates were evaluated according to the total number of cleavage fragments, by the number of fragments within designated molecular weight regions, and finally, by the migration of fragments within regions. Four of the 67 PRV isolates (all 4 from California) did not have a 4.1 to 4.6 megadalton HinfI band, but hybridization of the HinfI digests with a 32P probe made with the 4.4 megadalton band hybridized with 2 lighter fragments, 2.5 and 1.9 megadaltons, respectively. The BamHI digests of DNA from some PRV isolates with submolar fragments were hybridized with 32P probes made with fragments from the submolar region and the BamHI E fragment. Both probes hybridized to the submolar region of PRV with BamHI submolar fragments, but only to the trimolar (E, F, and G) band of PRV without submolar fragments in the 4.1 to 7.5 BamHI megadalton region. Epidemiologic evidence was obtained which indicated that a Missouri strain of PRV was transferred to an Illinois swine herd by importation of feeder pigs from Missouri. The results indicate that there are numerous genomically different PRV currently in circulation in the United States and that the combination of RE analysis and DNA hybridization offers useful epidemiologic information to evaluate the various strains.