Trypsin action on the growth of Sendai virus in tissue culture cells. IV. Evidence for activation of sendai virus by cleavage of a glycoprotein.

Results obtained by using a reconstitution technique on the Sendai virus envelope confirm that cleavage of one of the envelope glycoproteins (GP2) is prerequisite for activation of hemolytic and cell fusion activities of Sendai virus. The cleavage of GP2 occurs even when free envelope subunits are directly treated with trypsin in the presence of detergent. Trypsin treatment, either of the reconstituted particle or of the free envelope subunits but not of the intact virion, also causes a cleavage of the largest envelope glycoprotein (GP1), suggesting that a site on GP1 sensitive to trypsin becomes exposed during solubilization and reconstitution. The latter cleavage, however, is not associated with any changes in biological activities.