COMPARISON OF HERPESVIRUS ISOLATES FROM FALCONS, PIGEONS AND PSITTACINES BY RESTRICTION ENDONUCLEASE ANALYSIS

Field isolates of herpesviruses recovered from falcon, pigeon, and psi ttacine birds were compared by restriction endonuclease (RE) analysis using four separate enzymes. Pigeon and falcon herpesviruses had strik ingly similar DNA cleavage patterns, while DNA cleavage pattern of vir us isolates from a double-yellow headed Amazon and an African grey par rot had different genomic patterns to both the pigeon and falcon herpe sviruses. These findings support the field observations that pigeon he rpesvirus causes a fatal herpesviral infection in the livers of pigeon -eating falcons.