CHARACTERIZATION OF DIVERSE VIRAL VECTOR PREPARATIONS, USING A SIMPLEAND RAPID WHOLE-VIRION DOT-BLOT METHOD

A number of different viruses have been adapted as gene transfer vecto rs, including retroviruses, adenoviruses, adenoassociated viruses (AAV s), herpes simplex virus, SV40 viruses, and alphaviruses (both Semliki Forest and Sindbis viruses), One of the major rate-limiting and time- consuming steps in the characterization of these vectors is the proces s of determining the viral vector titers, In addition, there is no ''u niversal'' method that can be used to rapidly estimate the titer and t he utility of viral vector preparations. We demonstrate here that supe rnatant from diverse classes of viral victors, with either RNA or DNA genomes, can be rapidly evaluated by a simple virus dot-blot hybridiza tion without prior extraction of nucleic acids. This system can provid e a reliable screen for physical titer of viral vector supernatants in 1 day.