Method of concentrating and recovering a viral enzyme activity from biological samples

Method of concentrating and recovering a reverse transcriptase (RT) enzyme activity from enveloped retroviruses present in a biological sample

• comprising the steps of
• contacting the biological sample in a first buffer solution at a concentration in range of 100-500 mM of buffering substance and having a pH of 4.0-8.5 and optionally containing chaothropic ions at an ionic strength of up to 2 M with a virus-binding matrix, to attach virus particles present in the sample to the matrix,
• washing the matrix carrying the virus particles with a second buffer solution at a concentration of 1-100 mM of buffering substance and containing cations at a concentration of 0.1-1 M and having a pH of 4-9, to remove components interfering with viral enzyme activity,
• lysing the immobilized virus particles in a third buffer solution at a concentration of 10-500 mM of buffering substance and containing a non denaturing detergent and having a pH of 4-9 which prevents the enzyme from binding to the virus-binding matrix, and
• recovering the concentrated viral enzyme activity from the third buffer solution.