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

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 92% 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.