Molecular characterization of two strains of the avian adeno-associated virus (AAAV).

An avian adeno-associated virus (AAAV) was isolated after propagating a field isolate of the CELO virus (fowl adenovirus serotype 1 (FAV1)) in embryonated eggs. The isolated dependovirus was compared with the known AAAV obtained from the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC VR-865). The genomes were analysed by digestion with several restriction endonucleases. Although both DNAs have the same size, most restriction enzymes produced different restriction patterns. Double digests were used to construct for the first time restriction maps for avian dependoviruses. The two DNAs rendered different restriction maps in which the different restriction sites were mainly located in the middle and right part of the genomes. The effect of these differences on the structure proteins was shown by western blot analysis. In the immunoblot, the immunofluorescence and immunodiffusion test the two dependoviruses were serologically indistinguishable and therefore can be regarded as two different strains of the same virus. To differentiate between both strains we named the original one as AAAV VR-865 compared with the isolated AAAV DA-1.