MOLECULAR CHARACTERIZATION OF A Herpesvirus bovino 1 CUBAN STRAIN

Abstract

In Cuba, infections caused by Bovine herpesvirus 1 (BoHV-1) are endemic; however clinical signs are moderate, possibly because the BoHV-1 circulating genotypes are not associated to severe infections but these are not known. In the present study a BoHV-1 strain isolated in Cuba was compared with BoHV-1 strains from other different countries. Viral DNA was analysed by adoption of a clustering system based on restriction enzyme analysis (REA) with HindIII, HpaI, PstI and SfiI, which led to identify the Cuban isolate as a BoHV-1.1.III strain. The Cuban BoHV-1 differed from all the reference strains analysed and displayed a restriction fragment pattern more similar to strains originated from the European continent. The inclusion of these results into the clustering database is a contribution for future studies in tracing back the origin of novel infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR) outbreaks.