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J. Virol., Jan 1998, 542-549, Vol 72, No. 1
PI Marcus, LL Rodriguez and MJ Sekellick
The interferon (IFN)-inducing capacity of different isolates of vesicular
stomatitis virus (VSV) of the Indiana (IN) and New Jersey (NJ) serotypes
were measured to assess the extent of variability of this phenotype. Over
200 preparations of wild-type field isolates, laboratory strains, and
plaque-derived subpopulations were examined. Marked heterogeneity was found
in the ability of these viruses to induce IFN, covering a 10,000-fold
range. A good fit to a normal distribution for the log of the IFN yields
suggests a continuum of incremental changes in the viral genome may govern
the IFN-inducing capacity of consensus populations derived from
independently arising infections. A broad range in the magnitude of these
changes, skewed towards inducers of high IFN yields, is consistent with a
comparable series of ribonucleotide changes in the VSV genome, a sine qua
non of a quasispecies population. Plaque- or vesicle-derived populations
displayed standard deviations less than the mean IFN yields, though skewed
to higher yielders, whereas populations from field and laboratory samples
which differed widely in time and origin of isolation gave standard
deviations greater than the means. The plaque isolation of IFN-inducing
particles of VSV-IN, normally masked in populations by the predominance of
non-IFN-inducing particles that suppress IFN induction, and the isolation
of potent wild-type IFN- inducing VSV-IN from cows during an outbreak of
vesicular stomatitis in a region that had yielded only virus expressing the
non-IFN-inducing phenotype in prior and subsequent years, supports the view
that genetic bottlenecks are operative in the natural transmission of this
disease.
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology
Interferon induction as a quasispecies marker of vesicular stomatitis virus populations
Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Connecticut, Storrs 06269-3044, USA. pmarcus@biotek.mcb.uconn.edu
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