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VIRUSES OF THE MYXOMA‐FIBROMA SUBGROUP OF THE POXVIRUSES
Author(s) -
Fenner Frank
Publication year - 1965
Publication title -
australian journal of experimental biology and medical science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.999
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1440-1711
pISSN - 0004-945X
DOI - 10.1038/icb.1965.11
Subject(s) - myxoma virus , virus , myxoma , virology , antiserum , antigen , biology , fibroma , medicine , immunology , anatomy , cardiology
Summary The soluble antigens of several strains of myxoma virus, and of rabbit and hare fibroma viruses, were compared by gel diffusion tests. Potent preparations showed up to six lines when tested against homologous antisera. There were strong cross‐reactions between strains of myxoma virus derived from widely separated parts of North and South America, but three groups of strains could be distinguished on the basis of the gel‐diffusion tests and the symptomatology of the disease produced in European rabbits. These were Brazilian, which included most of the strains from South America; Californian, a homogeneous group of wide temporal and spatial distribution in that State; and some strains from Colombia and Panama which were antigenically like Californian virus but resembled Brazilian virus in other properties. Three strains of rabbit fibroma virus derived from Michigan, Maryland and New Jersey were antigenically indistinguishable. Cross‐reactions between the soluble antigens of hare and squirrel fibroma virus and myxoma virus were very weak. Cross‐reactions of the soluble antigens of rabbit fibroma virus and myxoma virus on the one hand, and rabbit and hare fibroma viruses on the other, were more extensive. Lack of satisfactory preparations of soluble antigens and antisera precluded adequate investigation of the soluble antigens of squirrel fibroma virus. With some preparations of soluble antigens of many poxviruses, of several different subgroups, and with certain antisera, a line was seen which is thought to represent the interaction of the poxvirus group antigen and its antibody. Electron micrographs of thin sections of infected cells showed that hare and squirrel fibroma viruses, which had not previously been examined with the electron microscope, were morphologically typical poxviruses. The myxoma‐fibroma subgroup of the poxviruses and its evolutionary history are briefly discussed.