Parapoxvirus of red deer: evidence for its inclusion as a new member in the genus parapoxvirus.

There are three accepted members of the parapoxvirus genus, orf virus (OV), papular stomatitis virus (PSV), and pseudocowpox virus (PCV). OV is maintained in sheep and goats and PSV and PCV in cattle. Restriction endonuclease profiles of the DNA derived from representatives of these established members of the genus were compared with profiles from a parapoxvirus recently isolated from red deer. In no case did the profile of this latter virus (DPV) resemble those generated from the other parapoxviruses. Southern blot hybridization using total DPV DNA as a probe revealed homology between DPV and the central regions of the genomes of the other parapoxviruses but not to their terminal regions. These results indicate that the genome of DPV is as different from the genomes of the three accepted members of the genus as the latter are from each other and argue for the inclusion of DPV as a new member of the parapoxvirus genus.