Fig. 4.
Characterization of the reassortant virus A4AHSV-1VP2/VP5. (A) Electropherotype of the reassortant virus A4AHSV-1VP2/VP5 (lane 1) obtained by electrophoresis of the genomic dsRNA in a non-denaturing polyacrylamide gel, followed by ethidium bromide staining to visualize viral genome segments (S1–S10). The reassortant virus contains genome segments S2 and S6 from AHSV-1 in an otherwise AHSV-4 genetic background. Wild-type AHSV-4 dsRNA (A-4) and AHSV-1 dsRNA (A-1) marker lanes are indicated to the left and right of the figure, respectively. The asterisk indicates the faster migrating S2 genome segment of AHSV-1, whereas the origin of the S6 genome segment was determined by restriction enzyme digestion. (B) Restriction digestion analysis of genome segment S6 RT-PCR products from AHSV-4, AHSV-1 and the reassortant virus A4AHSV-1VP2/VP5. The RT-PCR products were digested with BamHI and the digestion products were analysed by agarose gel electrophoresis. BamHI has specificity for genome segment S6 of AHSV-4, with one site present in the genome segment, and does not cleave within the S6 genome segment of AHSV-1. Size markers (M) in base pairs are indicated.