Heterogeneity within Strains of Newcastle Disease Virus: Key to Survival

Abstract

Both wild-type isolates and laboratory cultured strains of Newcastle disease virus contain several subpopulations that are often distinguishable by their plaque morphology. When cloned, these subpopulations may differ significantly from each other in their ability to infect and induce disease in several avian species. They may also differ in physical properties, in their ability to be bound by monoclonal antibody and in their oligoribonucleotide arrays. The supopulation complexes which presumably arose through mutation can be transmitted from host to host and appear to persist as complexes for many transfers both in nature and in the laboratory. The stability of the population complexes raise questions about interactions among the subpopulations and the possible role of the population complexes in the evolution and survival of the virus.