Identification and characterization of the structural and nonstructural proteins of African horsesickness virus and determination of the genome coding assignments.

Proteins present in purified African horsesickness virus (AHSV) and in infected cells were analyzed by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Twelve viral proteins were identified, one minor and four major structural proteins, three major and two minor nonstructural proteins, as well as variable amounts of two additional structural proteins. Cell-free translation of total AHS virion RNA in a rabbit reticulocyte system resulted in the synthesis of proteins which were qualitatively and quantitatively similar to those found in infected cells. The in vivo and in vitro synthesized proteins were viral specific as demonstrated by immunoprecipitation. The coding assignments of all the purified genome segments were determined by in vitro translation and confirmed by immunoprecipitation.