Biological and Physicochemical Properties of Ground Squirrel Cytomegalovirus

Abstract

SUMMARY Viral isolates recovered from salivary glands of ground squirrels ( Citellus citellus ) with typical cytomegalic inclusions throughout the epithelium lining the salivary ducts caused cytopathic changes in host-derived tissue cultures that were similar to those produced by cytomegaloviruses of other animal species. The viral isolates proved to be deoxyribonucleic acid viruses as shown by staining of the nuclear inclusion by Feulgen's method and acridine orange. The isolates also had other properties of cytomegaloviruses—ether-sensitive, heat-labile, and lacking any hemagglutinating capacity. The isolates did not grow in fertile chicken eggs and in tissue cultures other than those derived from host species, and they were not pathogenic for laboratory animals. In cultures, isolates proved to be cell-associated.