Immunodiffusion Analysis of Yaba Poxvirus Structural and Associated Antigens

Yaba poxvirus virions were extracted and purified from Rhesus monkey tumors. A saline-soluble virion fraction (Y-xp), obtained by mechanical fractionation of purified virions with an X-press, contained seven components in acrylamide gel electrophoresis; five of these components were reactive in immunodiffusion with whole virion and Y-xp antisera produced in rabbits and monkeys. The saline-insoluble residue remaining after X-press treatment was hydrolyzed with sodium dodecyl sulfate, urea, and 2-mercaptoethanol (SUM). This fraction, Y-sum, contained five components, four of which were demonstrable by immunodiffusion. There was no evidence of antigenic relationships between Y-xp and Y-sum antigens in immunodiffusion. In acrylamide gel electrophoresis, one Y-xp and one Y-sum component had similar mobilities. Y-xp but not Y-sum antisera contained viral-neutralizing antibodies. Virus-free saline extracts of Yaba tumor prepared with Genetron (YS) were essentially devoid of virion structural antigens. They failed to induce precipitating antibodies for virion antigens, were nonreactive in immunodiffusion with virion antisera, and gave low complement-fixation titers with virion antisera. Yaba virion antigens were recovered from the Genetron tumor sediment by SUM and alkaline hydrolysis. Antisera prepared to YS extracts gave a maximum of 17 precipitin lines in immunodiffusion with YS extracts; none was identified as a virion structural antigen. Saline extracts of tumor prepared without Genetron contained immunogenic amounts of 5 virion antigens and 12 to 14 associated antigens. Animals immunized with infected cell culture extracts (virus-free) formed antibodies to six to seven virion antigens. The implications of using extracts of Yaba poxvirus-infected tissues in complement-fixation tests to measure virion antibodies were discussed.