Mutants of an influenza A reassortant which are cold-sensitive (cs) as well as temperature-sensitive (ts): on the role of the neuraminidase activity for influenza virus infection.

Temperature-sensitive (ts) mutants were obtained by undiluted passage of the cold-sensitive (cs) influenza A reassortant 113/Ho. This reassortant produces normal yields of infectious virus with negligible neuraminidase (NA) at 40 degrees. The mutants obtained from it had a narrow temperature optimum for plaque formation in chick embryo cells, since they were cs as well as ts. Such cs/ts mutants have not been described before. In contrast to mutants derived from FPV, most of the mutants derived from 113/Ho carried a ts defect in the NA gene. NA activity was not detectable after infection with these mutants at 40 degrees. The results are interpreted to mean that, although NA activity is not completely dispensible for influenza A virus replication in tissue cultures, the viruses possess a surplus of NA activity. The normally high activity of NA of influenza viruses seems to be necessary only for the natural infection of the respiratory tract.