Preparation and use of molluscum contagiosum virus from human tissue biopsy specimens

Molluscum contagiosum virus (MCV) lesions are limited to the human epidermis and can persist for months, showing only weak signs of inflammation. Because a culture system has not yet been created to replicate MCV, this chapter describes how the virus can be isolated from patient specimens. From this material, we describe how MCV is purified and used for infection studies, electron microscopy, viral DNA extraction, and analyses of early mRNA synthesized by in vitro transcription of permeabilized virions. The complete MCV-1 genome has been sequenced, and a redundant MCV genome fragment library of MCV type 1 (available from American Type Culture Collection [ATCC]) is useful for the cloning and study of individual MCV genes.