Molecular epidemiology and restriction site mapping of adenovirus 7 genome types

From the United States, the Federal Republic of Germany, and other regions, 168 strains of AV7, isolated between 1961 and 1985, were analyzed by six restriction endonucleases and nine genome types were identified. The enzymes BamHI and HindIII were most discriminative. The genome type D5 (or 7b) predominated with 120 isolates since 1970 in both countries. Strains of D2 (7a) and D4 (7c) were isolated for a limited time, D3 for an extended time period. Several clusters of infections with the same genome type were found. Differences in pathogenicity could not be derived from our data. On the basis of restriction site mapping, most other genome types were similar to D5, one to D2 and one to the prototype (D1). The genomic relation between AV7 and AV3 is discussed and shown by a dendrogram.