Replicative RNA synthesis and nucleocapsid assembly in vesicular stomatitis virus-infected permeable cells.

A permeable-cell system has been developed to study the replication of vesicular stomatitis virus. When vesicular stomatitis virus-infected BHK cells were permeabilized by lysolecithin treatment, they incorporated nucleoside triphosphates into RNA and amino acids into proteins at nearly normal rates. The viral mRNA's synthesized appeared normal in polarity, size distribution, and polyadenylation, and all five viral proteins were synthesized. Replication of the viral genome proceeded, and full-length RNA strands were synthesized in amounts and polarities resembling those found in intact cells. These full-length RNAs associated with viral N proteins to form RNase-resistant nucleocapsids of normal buoyant density. Permeable cells appear to represent ideal hosts for studying vesicular stomatitis virus replication since they closely mimic in vivo conditions while retaining much of the experimental flexibility of current in vitro systems.