Identification of virus-like particles in Eimeria stiedae

When nucleic acid samples purified from sporozoites of Eimeria stiedae were analyzed by agarose gel electrophoresis, an ethidium-stainable band with an apparent electrophoretic mobility of 6.5 kb was consistently observed. The band was readily degradable upon RNAse treatment, and its susceptibility towards ribonuclease A on a decreasing ionic strength was suggestive of double-stranded RNA (dsRNA). Electron microscopy revealed spherical, probably icosahedral, virus-like particles (VLP) with a diameter of 35 nm in sporozoite lysates. The VLP were purified by CsCl buoyant density gradient centrifugation. Upon extraction, these particles yielded dsRNA molecules of a uniform length of 1.63 microns. The presence of the VLP was investigated in different Eimeria strains. All E. stiedae isolates contained the RNA virus, whereas the Eimeria intestinalis and Eimeria magna isolates tested did not. RNA/RNA hybridization experiments where the E. stiedae VLP dsRNA was probed to the genomes of the dsRNA viruses of Trichomonas vaginalis and Giardia intestinalis revealed a strong relatedness of the E. stiedae virus to the G. intestinalis virus, in contrast with the T. vaginalis virus, where no homology could be detected.