Histo-Blood Group Antigens Act as Attachment Factors of Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease Virus Infection in a Virus Strain-Dependent Manner
Figure 9
RHDV challenge of A+B+ and A−B− rabbits.
31 rabbits were infected with an A and B binding G4 strain at 105, 107 or 109 virus copies. Rabbits either succumbed to infection or were sacrificed after 11 days. Duodenum and liver samples were collected at time of death. Duodenum was phenotyped for A, B and H expression and G4 binding. Duodenum and liver were also assayed for virus RNA via real time RT-PCR. (A) G4 binding plotted against B expression levels. (B) Viral load of liver and duodenum of all dead and surviving rabbits. Duodenum RNA is plotted as arbitrary units since the RNA was normalized against β actin to account for tissue preparation variations. Liver RNA is plotted as copy numbers since the tissue state due to infection did not allow for reliable quantification of rabbit RNA. (C–D) Virus RNA levels of liver or duodenum for 105 infectious dose, where A+B+ (circle), A−B− (triangle), dead rabbits (black symbol) and surviving rabbits (white symbol).