Characterisation of adenoviruses isolated from geese

Viruses isolated from liver and gut of dead 2- to 4-week-old goslings were identified as adenoviruses. The main characteristics of the strains were: development of intranuclear inclusion bodies in virus-infected cells; a buoyant density of the infective particles in CsC1 of 1.33-1.34 g/ml; icosahedral virions measuring 78-83 nm in diameter which had no envelope; a linear duplex DNA genome with a molecular weight of 25-29 x 10(6) daltons. These adenoviruses did not cross-react in neutralisation tests with 11 fowl, two turkey and two duck adenovirus serotypes, however, they shared a common complement-fixing antigen with fowl adenoviruses. Based on the results of the cross-neutralisation tests and on the cleavage pattern of DNAs by BamHI and Hind III restriction endonucleases, the seven adenovirus strains studied represent three distinct goose adenovirus serotypes. The goose adenoviruses caused neither clinical symptoms nor pathological lesions after infection of 3-day-old goslings.