NUCLEOTIDE-SEQUENCE ANALYSIS OF ALEUTIAN MINK DISEASE PARVOVIRUS SHOWS THAT MULTIPLE VIRUS TYPES ARE PRESENT IN INFECTED MINK

Different isolates of Aleutian mink disease parvovirus (ADV) were cloned and nucleotide sequenced. Analysis of individual clones from two in vivo-derived isolates of high virulence indicated that more than one type of ADV DNA were present in each of these isolates. Analysis of several clones from two preparations of a cell culture-adapted isolate of low virulence showed the presence of only one type of ADV DNA. We also describe the nucleotide sequence from map units 44 to 88 of a new type of ADV DNA. The new type of ADV DNA is compared with the previously published ADV sequences, to which it shows 95% homology. These findings indicate that ADV, a single-stranded DNA virus, has a considerable degree of variability and that several virus types can be present simultaneously in an infected animal.