Avian infectious bronchitis virus structural polypeptides: effect of different conditions of disruption and comparison of different strains and isolates.

Variations in the conditions used for disruption of purified virus involving differences in heat treatment and reducing agent concentration produced little affect on the polypeptide profiles of the Massachusetts 41 (M 41) strain of avian infectious bronchitis virus obtained by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Comparisons of the structural polypeptides of 12 IBV isolates, consiting of M 41, six serologically related viruses and representatives of five other serotypes, showed that the viruses could be placed in three groups on the molecular weights of the major glycopolypeptides. These were 31,000 and 86,000 for M 41, the six related viruses and the serologically distinct SE 17; 27,000 and 89,000 for Iowa 97 and Holte and 27,000 and 91,000 for Connecticut and T strain.