Summary
Studies of the prevalence of antibody to murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV) in free-living wild mice (Mus domesticus) trapped in diverse regions of Australia and on a sub-Antarctic island indicated that 90% of 468 mice had serum antibody to MCMV. Twenty-six field isolates of MCMV were plaqu-epurified from salivary gland extracts of representative seropositive mice. These isolates varied considerably in their ability to replicate in the salivary glands of weanling BALB/c mice with 9 of 15 failing to reach significant titres in this organ and the titres of the remaining 6 strains varying by at least 100-fold. The high frequency of restriction fragment length polymorphisms observed suggests widespread genetic heterogeneity exists among the strains. This observation was mirrored at the polypeptide level by Western blot analyses with polyclonal antisera to MCMV. The isolation in this study of four genetically distinct strains of MCMV from a single wild mouse and several strains from other individual mice demonstrates that multiple infections with MCMV may be commonplace in wild mice.
References
Ablashi DV, Balachandran N, Josephs SF, Hung CL, Krueger GRF, Kramarsky B, Salahuddin SZ, Gallo RC (1991) Genomic polymorphism, growth properties, and immunologic variations in human herpesvirus-6 isolates. Virology 184: 545–552
Boname JM, Chantler JK (1992) Characterization of a strain of murine cytomegalovirus which fails to grow in the salivary glands of mice. J Gen Virol 73: 2021–2029
Brytting M, Wahlberg J, Lundeberg J, Wahren B, Uhlen M, Sundqvist V-A (1992) Variations in the cytomegalovirus major immediate-early gene found by direct genomic sequencing. J Clin Microbiol 30: 955–960
Chandler SH, McDougall JK (1986) Comparison of restriction site polymorphisms among clinical isolates and laboratory strains of human cytomegalovirus. J Gen Virol 67: 2179–2192
Darlington J, Super M, Patel K, Grundy JE, Griffiths PD, Emery VC (1991) Use of the polymerase chain reaction to analyse sequence variation within a major neutralizing epitope of glycoprotein B (gp 58) in clinical isolates of human cytomegalovirus. J Gen Virol 72: 1985–1989
Drew WL, Sweet ES, Miner RC, Mocarski ES (1984) Multiple infections by cytomegalovirus in patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome: documentation by Southern blot hybridization. J Infect Dis 150: 952–953
Ebeling A, Keil GM, Knust E, Koszinowski UH (1983) Molecular cloning and physical mapping of murine cytomegalovirus DNA. J Virol 47: 421–433
Farrell HE, Shellam GR (1990) Characterization of neutralizing monoclonal antibodies to murine cytomegalovirus. J Gen Virol 71: 655–664
Gibson W (1981) Immediate-early proteins of human cytomegalovirus strains AD 169, Davis, and Towne differ in electrophoretic mobility. Virology 112: 350–354
Horimoto T, Limcumpao JA, Xuan X, Ono M, Maeda K, Kawaguchi Y, Kai C, Takahashi E, Mikami T (1992) Heterogeneity of feline herpesvirus type 1 strains. Arch Virol 126: 283–292
Hudson JB (1979) The murine cytomegalovirus as a model for the study of viral pathogenesis and persistent infection. Arch Virol 62: 1–29
Hudson JB, Walker DG, Altamirano M (1988) Analysis in vitro of two biologically distinct strains of murine cytomegalovirus. Arch Virol 102: 289–295
Jordan MC, Pomeroy C (1991) Latent CMV infection in the mouse. Transplant Proc 23 [Suppl 3]: 17–21
Laemmli VK (1970) Cleavage of structural protein during the assembly of the head of bacteriophage T 4. Nature 227: 680–685
Lawson GM, Grundy JE, Shellam GR (1988) Antibody responses to murine cytomegalovirus in genetically resistant and susceptible strains of mice. J Gen Virol 69: 1987–1998
Lehner R, Stamminger T, Mach M (1991) Comparative sequence analysis of human cytomegalovirus strains. J Clin Microbiol 29: 2494–2502
Manning WC, Stoddart CA, Lagenaur LA, Abenes GB, Mocarski ES (1992) Cytomegalovirus determinant of replication in salivary glands. J Virol 66: 3794–3802
Misra V, Hudson JB (1980) Minor base sequence differences between the genomes of two strains of murine cytomegalovirus differing in virulence. Arch Virol 64: 1–8
Osborn JE, Walker DL (1970) Virulence and attenuation of murine cytomegalovirus. Infect Immun 3: 228–236
Rogers BC, Mundin J, Sissons JGP (1985) Monoclonal antibodies recognizing early and late antigens of human cytomegalovirus: heterogeneity of polypeptides recognized between virus isolates. J Gen Virol 66: 2045–2049
Singleton GR, Redhead TD (1990) Structure and biology of house mouse populations that plague irregularly: an evolutionary perspective. Biol J Linnean Soc 41: 285–300
Smith AL, Singleton GR, Hansen GM, Shellam GR (1993) A serosurvey for viruses of laboratory rodents andMycoplasma pulmonis among outbreaking and non-outbreaking populations of wild house mice (Mus domesticus) in southeastern Australia. J Wildl Dis (in press)
Spector SA, Hirata KK, Neuman TR (1984) Identification of multiple cytomegalovirus strains in homosexual men with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. J Infect Dis 150: 953–956
Stazcek J (1990) Animal cytomegaloviruses. Microbiol Rev 54: 247–265
Towbin H, Staehelin T, Gordon J (1979) Electrophoretic transfer of proteins from polyacrylamide gels to nitrocellulose sheets: procedure and some applications. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 76: 4350–4354
Wyatt LS, Frenkel N (1992) Human herpesvirus-7 is a constitutive inhabitant of adult human saliva. J Virol 66: 3206–3209
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Booth, T.W.M., Scalzo, A.A., Carrello, C. et al. Molecular and biological characterization of new strains of murine cytomegalovirus isolated from wild mice. Archives of Virology 132, 209–220 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01309855
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01309855