PESTIVIRUSES ISOLATED FROM PIGS, CATTLE AND SHEEP CAN BE ALLOCATED INTO AT LEAST 3 GENOGROUPS USING POLYMERASE CHAIN-REACTION AND RESTRICTION-ENDONUCLEASE ANALYSIS

A polymerase chain reaction-based assay capable of detecting a broad r ange of pestiviruses from pigs, cattle, or sheep was developed. Of six sets of primers selected from different parts of the pestivirus genom e, the best results were provided by a pair from the highly conserved 5 ' non-coding region which gave amplification with all 129 isolates t ested. This panel consisted of 33 isolates from pigs, 79 from cattle, and 17 from sheep. Differentiation between the viruses was achieved by cutting the PCR-amplified products with the restriction endonucleases AvaI and BglI. Using this procedure it was possible to distinguish at least 3 genogroups; group 1 (HCV) contained 32 of the pig isolates, g roup II (BVDV) contained all the cattle isolates tested plus 6 sheep i solates and group III (BDV) contained 11 sheep isolates and 1 pig isol ate.