Immunochemical studies of foot-and-mouth disease. V. Antigenic variants of virus demonstrated by immunodiffusion analyses with 19S but not 7S antibodies.

Three antigenic variants of foot-and-mouth disease virus, type A, strain 119, were demonstrated in Ouchterlony analyses utilizing serum collected from guinea pigs 7 days postinfection (DPI). Such antisera contain antibodies of the 19S class. Guinea pig antisera that contained antibodies of the 7S class were unable to distinguish between the antigenic variants. Similarly, 19S antibody was able to demonstrate antigenic differences in trypsin- and chymotrypsin-treated viruses that were not detected by 7S antibody-containing antisera. One of the antigenic variants of virus is apparently the wild type and is tentatively considered to have two antigenic determinant groupings termed the a- and b-sites (140S-ab). The 140S-ab variant was the sole or predominant antigenic type produced in guinea pigs and in large plaque-forming- and tissue culture-low passage sources of the virus. Another antigenic variant appears to possess only the b-site (140S-b) and was the major constituent in tissue culture-high passage virus preparations. The third variant, a small plaque former, was also devoid of the a-site and contains an antigenic determinant that is related to, but not identical with, the b-site. This variant appears to be a minor constituent of tissue culture-high passage virus. 7-DPI serum could be absorbed with a suitable concentration of tissue culture-high passage virus to remove antibody reactive with the b-determinant site. This absorbed serum still precipitated 140S-ab virus by virtue of still containing antibody reactive with the a-determinant site; however, the neutralizing activity was eliminated. This suggests that the b-site is critical with respect to neutralization while the a-site is noncritical.