Effect of host cell on the in vitro characteristics expressed by two bovine viral diarrhea virus strains

Growth curves, immunofluorescence assays and radioimmunoprecipitation analysis of bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV)-specified polypeptides were used to determine the susceptibility of bovine endothelial cells (BECs) to infection with strains of BVDV. One strain of the virus, NY1, normally non-cytopathic when grown in bovine turbinate cells (BTUs), did not parallel this type behavior in BECs. Virus replication kinetics, morphological changes in infected cells and resolution of viral polypeptides suggest that NY1 replicated and showed cytopathologic changes in infected BECs similar to a cytopathic strain of BVDV, strain C24V. Two previously unreported viral polypeptides were identified in NY1-infected endothelial cells. These polypeptides had molecular weights of 92,000 (92kDa) and 72kDa. These findings suggest that BVDV-cell interactions occurring in BECs differ from those observed in similarly infected BTUs.