Comparisons of rotavirus polypeptides by limited proteolysis: close similarity of certain polypeptides of different strains.

The polypeptides of SA11 rotavirus produced in virus-infected cells were analyzed by limited proteolysis, using Staphylococcus aureus V8 protease. This clearly distinguished between all the known primary gene products of the virus and allowed relationships between other infected-cell proteins, and between infected-cell and virus structural proteins, to be ascertained. A comparison of the proteolysis cleavage patterns between SA11 rotavirus and the human rotavirus Wa was also performed which demonstrated a marked conservation in the digestion patterns among nonstructural and inner-shell structural proteins, but a marked variation in the digestion patterns among outer-shell structural proteins.