PROGRESS TOWARDS USING RECOMBINANT MYXOMA VIRUS AS A VECTOR FOR FERTILITY-CONTROL IN RABBITS

The history of myxoma virus, its use in Australia as a mortality agent and the development of the virus as a vector for controlling fertilit y in wild rabbit populations in Australia is reviewed. Myxoma virus re combinants have been constructed to express model antigens. Four poten tial insertion sites in the genome have been identified and two have b een used to construct single and double recombinant viruses expressing Escherichia coli enzymes beta-galactosidase and beta-glucuronidase. A nother recombinant expressing an influenza virus haemagglutinin gene ( A/PR8/34) induced high and sustained antibody responses following intr adermal inoculation in rabbits. To demonstrate the potential of introd ucing a recombinant virus into wild rabbit populations, a virus contai ning a natural deletion was released at four field locations. Prelimin ary analysis of the data has shown that the introduced virus spread we ll on 3 of the 4 locations. The steps being taken to address the ethic al acid safety implications of the introduction of a recombinant virus into the field are discussed.