Isolation and Characterization of Temperature-Sensitive Mutants of Vesicular Stomatitis Virus, New Jersey Serotype

Forty-eight temperature-sensitive (ts) mutants have been isolated from a wild-type strain of the New Jersey serotype of vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) after exposure to the base analogue mutagen 5-fluorouracil. Of these mutants, 47 have been classified into 6 nonoverlapping complementation groups containing 21, 17, 4, 3, 2, and 1 mutant, respectively (1 mutant remaining unallocated). The ribonucleic acid (RNA) phenotype of 23 of these mutants has been established. Four of the six groups contain one or more mutants unable to synthesize detectable amounts of viral RNA under restrictive conditions (39 C). No complementation was observed in mixed infection with ts mutants from the five established complementation groups of the Indiana serotype of VSV.     

Vesicular stomatitis virus-infected cells fuse when the intracellular pool of functional M protein is reduced in the presence of G protein.

Five highly cytolytic strains of both Indiana and New Jersey serotypes of vesicular stomatitis virus were shown to induce cell fusion in BHK-21 and R(B77) cells. Inhibition of protein synthesis after the eclipse period of viral replication is a prerequisite for vesicular stomatitis virus-induced cell fusion. Pulse-chase experiments showed that inhibition of protein synthesis would lead to a drastic reduction in the intracellular pool of M protein as compared with other proteins. A temperature-sensitive mutant defective in M protein function (G31) was the only mutant of the five complementation groups to spontaneously induce polykaryocytes at the nonpermissive temperature. Previously, G protein has been shown to play a role in vesicular stomatitis virus-induced cell fusion. These results suggest that the combination of the presence of G protein on the virus-infected cell surface and the absence of functional M protein or a reduced level of intracellular M protein promotes cell fusion. On the basis of this study, we propose that vesicular stomatitis virus infection can induce cell fusion when the functional M protein pool declines to a critical level while G protein remains on the cell surface.     

Restitution of infectivity to spikeless vesicular stomatitis virus by solubilized viral components.

Noninfectious spikeless particles have been obtained from vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV, Indiana serotype) by bromelain or Pronase treatment. They lack the viral glycoprotein (G) but contain all the other viral components (RNA, lipid, and other structural proteins). Triton-solubilized VSV-Indiana glycoprotein preparations, containing the viral G protein as well as lipids (including phospholipids), have been extracted from whole virus preparations, freed from the majority of the detergent, and used to restore infectivity to spikeless VSV. The infectivity of such particles has been found to be enhanced by poly-L-ornithine but inhibited by Trition or homologous antiserum pretreatment. Heat-denatured glycoprotein preparations were not effective in restoring the infectivity to spikeless VSV. Heterologous glycoprotein preparations from the serologically distinct VSV-New Jersey serotype were equally capable of making infectious entities with VSV-Indiana spikeless particles, and the infectivity of these structures was inhibited by VSV-New Jersey antiserum but not by VSV-Indiana antiserum. Purified, detergent-free glycoprotein selectively solubilized from VSV-Indiana by the dialyzable detergent, octylglucoside, also restored infectivity of spikeless virions of VSV-Indiana and VSV-New Jersey.     

Classification of the New Jersey serotype of vesicular stomatitis virus into two subtypes.

We propose a reclassification of five strains of the New Jersey serotype of vesicular stomatitis virus into two subtypes designated Concan and Hazelhurst. This subclassification into two subtypes is based on reciprocal differences in antibody neutralization of virion infectivity, nucleotide base sequence homology, oligonucleotide maps of virion RNA, and interference by defective-interfering particles.     

Enhanced Mutability Associated with a Temperature-Sensitive Mutant of Vesicular Stomatitis Virus

Temperature-sensitive (ts) mutant tsD1 of vesicular stomatitis virus, New Jersey serotype, is the sole representative of complementation group D. Clones derived from this mutant exhibited three different phenotypes with respect to electrophoretic mobility of the G and N polypeptides of the virion in sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel. Analysis of non-ts pseudorevertants showed that none of the three phenotypes was associated with the temperature sensitivity of mutant tsD1. Additional phenotypes, some also involving the NS polypeptide, appeared during sequential cloning, indicating that mutations were generated at high frequency during replication of tsD1. Furthermore, mutations altering the electrophoretic mobility of the G, N, NS, and M polypeptides were induced in heterologous viruses multiplying in the same cells as tsD1. These heterologous viruses included another complementing ts mutant of vesicular stomatitis virus New Jersey and ts mutants of vesicular stomatitis virus Indiana and Chandipura virus. Complete or incomplete virions of tsD1 appeared to be equally efficient inducers of mutations in heterologous viruses. Analysis of the progeny of a mixed infection of two complementing ts mutants of vesicular stomatitis virus New Jersey with electrophoretically distinguishable G, N, NS, and M proteins yielded no recombinants and excluded recombination as a factor in the generation of the electrophoretic mobility variants. In vitro translation of total cytoplasmic RNA from BHK cells indicated that post-translational processing was not responsible for the aberrant electrophoretic mobility of the N, NS, and M protein mutants. Aberrant glycosylation could account for three of four G protein mutants, however. Some clones of tsD1 had an N polypeptide which migrated faster in sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel than did the wild type, suggesting that the polypeptide might be shorter by about 10 amino acids. Determination of the nucleotide sequence to about 200 residues from each terminus of the N gene of one of these clones, a revertant, and the wild-type parent revealed no changes compatible with synthesis of a shorter polypeptide by premature termination or late initiation of translation. The sequence data indicated, however, that the N-protein mutant and its revertant differed from the parental wild type in two of the 399 nucleotides determined. These sequencing results and the phenomenon of enhanced mutability associated with mutant tsD1 reveal that rapid and extensive evolution of the viral genome can occur during the course of normal cytolytic infection of cultured cells.