Isolation and preliminary characterization of herpes Channel Catfish virus DNA

The DNA of Channel Catfish virus (CCV) was selectively extracted from infected cells with a 5% solution of sodium deoxycholate, deproteinized using sodium sarcosinate and pronase, and purified by phenol extraction followed by equilibrium density gradient centrifugation in a cesium chloride solution. CCV DNA displays a buoyant density of 1.715 g/cm3 in such a solution, as would be expected from a duplex DNA containing 56.1% of guanine plus cytosine. As estimated from both its sedimentation coefficient and length in the electron microscope, CCV DNA is a linear duplex molecule of approximately 85 x 10(6) daltons.