Virus-specific proteins synthesized in cells infected with RNA+ temperature-sensitive mutants of Sindbis virus.

All Sindbis virus temperature-sensitive mutants defective in "late" functions were systematically surveyed by acrylamide-gel electrophoresis for similarities and differences in the intracellular pattern of virus-specific proteins synthesized at the permissive and nonpermissive temperatures. Only cells infected with mutants of complementation group C showed an altered pattern. At the nonpermissive temperature, these mutants failed to induce the synthesis of a polypeptide corresponding to the nucleocapsid protein and instead overproduced a protein of higher molecular weight than either viral structural protein. This defect was shown to be irreversible by the finding that (3)H-leucine incorporated at 41.5 C specifically failed to appear in the nucleocapsid of virions subsequently released at 29 C. Attempts to demonstrate a precursor protein in wild-type infections were inconclusive.