Date of Award:

5-1-1986

Document Type:

Thesis

Degree Name:

Master of Science (MS)

Department:

Biology

Department name when degree awarded

Biology

Committee Chair(s)

Joseph K. K. Li

Committee

Joseph K. K. Li

Committee

F. J. Post

Committee

J. Y. Takemoto

Abstract

The genetic relatedness of the prototype bluetongue viruses isolated in the United States were examined by RNA/RNA hybridization. Genomic dsRNAs of the five United States prototype bluetongue viruses were separated by either SOS-PAGE or NuSieve agarose gel electrophoresis. These were blotted by both standard Northern technique and a recently developed, rapid alkali-blotting method to positively charged nylon membranes. The blotted RNAs were then probed with 3'-end labeled dsRNA of each serotype. Initially, single segments were individually hybridized to identify cognate genes. Total genomic dsRNAs were subsequently probed to determine genetic relatedness. The genes coding for the nonstructural proteins NS1 and NS2 were the most conserved. Most of the RNA segments coding for the core proteins were also well conserved, with segment S1 showing some diversity among the five serotypes. The segments coding for the outer capsid proteins appear to have a wide degree of sequence divergence, with segment L2 having little or no cross hybridization among the five serotypes.

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