A comparison of the genomes of polioviruses by cDNA:RNA hybridization

Abstract

RNAs from 11 strains of the three serotypes of poliovirus were isolated from infected HeLa cells and hybridized with representative, radioactive complementary DNA (cDNA) from either poliovirus type 1 or type 2. Hybridization and thermal denaturation were analysed by hydroxyapatite chromatography, cDNA to either poliovirus type 1 or 2 is competent to detect about 70 to 80% of the sequences in RNAs from heterotypic strains and more than 02% of the RNA sequences in homotypic strains. The three polio serotype genomes appear to have diverged from each other by about 20%. Both poliovirus type 1 and type 2 representative cDNA can be used for the detection of poliovirus genomic sequences in RNA isolated from tissue.