Development of a differential multiplex PCR assay for equine herpesvirus 1 and 4 as a diagnostic tool

In this study, a multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) procedure was developed for differentiation of strains and field isolates of equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) and type 4 (EHV-4). Specific oligonucleotide primers were combined to amplify the thymidine kinase (TK) gene region of EHV-1 and EHV-4 which would yield fragments of different lengths for each virus in the same amplification reaction. The specificity of the largest PCR amplicon for EHV-4 was confirmed by restriction digestion with HindIII. The multiplex PCR proved to be a fast and sensitive method for typing EHV-1 and EHV-4 isolates and for detection and differentiation of both viruses in field samples in which infectious virus is no longer available. The sensitivity was improved by combining cycling optimization and visualization of PCR products in ethidium bromide and silver-stained acrylamide gels.