Propagation of infectious laryngotracheitis virus in an avian liver cell line.

The susceptibility of three avian cell lines (IQ1A, LMH, and QT-35) to infection by three strains of infectious laryngotracheitis virus (ILTV) was assessed both visually and by hybridization using an ILTV glycoprotein B gene probe. In the chicken liver tumor cell line (LMH), cytopathogenicity was observed at the second passage, and plaque formation was observed at the third passage. The identity of the infectious agent was verified to be ILTV by restriction endonuclease analysis of the virus genome and subsequent Southern hybridization. In contrast to LMH cells, which were a suitable host for ILTV, the quail cell line (IQ1A) was refractory to infection by this virus. Moreover, although LMH cell-adapted ILTV could initially replicate to a limited extent in the other quail cell line (QT-35), this ability was not sustained upon continual passaging.