CHARACTERIZATION OF THE DNA OF CANINE ADENOVIRUS BY RESTRICTION ENZYME ANALYSIS

The DNA of canine adenovirus (canAV 1, strain Behring H.c.c. 269) was characterized in detail. The MW of canAV DNA was (20.1 .+-. 0.1) .times. 106 daltons as determined by contour length measurements, and 19.9 .times. 106 daltons as determined by restriction enzyme analysis. A terminal protein was found to be covalently linked to the 5'' ends of canAV DNA. Physical maps of viral DNA were constructed for BamHI, ClaI, SacI, SalI and SmaI enzymes. Three international strains of canAV [American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) catalogue No. VR-800, VR-293 and VR-133] were analyzed under the same conditions. CanAV 1 (ATCC VR-133 and VR-293) had DNA cleavage patterns identical to the H.c.c. 269 strain; the DNA cleavage pattern of canAV 2 (ATCC VR-800) was clearly different.