Isolation of an influenza virus temperature-sensitive mutant of a new recombination-complementation group

Influenza A virus reassortants with surface glycoprotein genes of the avian parent viruses: effects of HA and NA gene combinations on virus aggregation

A series of 33 human-avian and human-mammalian influenza virus reassortant clones possessing either HA or both HA and NA genes of the avian or mammalian virus was obtained by crosses of A/USSR/90/77 (H1N1) human virus with 5 avian and 1 mammalian influenza virus strains. All of the reassortants possessing NA genes of the H1N1 human parent virus and HA gene of an avian or mammalian parent virus had high values of infectivity/HA activity ratio. Since this feature could result from a limited virion aggregation, several reassortants were analyzed by velocity sucrose gradient centrifugation. In all cases tested, the reassortants of H3N1, H4N1, H10N1 and H13N1 composition were shown to be aggregated, whereas the preparations of the parent H1N1 virus and the reassortants possessing both HA and NA genes from the avian parents were represented mostly by single virions. The aggregates were formed at 4 degrees C and dissociated at 37 degrees C. The dissociation was blocked by an inhibitor of neuraminidase activity (2-deoxy-2,3-dehydro-N-acetyl-neuraminic acid). The dissociation was reversible since the virions reaggregated at 4 degrees C; however, treatment with bacterial neuraminidase led to an irreversible dissociation of the aggregates. The tendency of the reassortants to aggregate correlates with an increased infectivity/HA ratio. No regular decrease in the neuraminidase activity in the virions of reassortants as compared to the parent H1N1 virus was revealed. The most likely explanation of the observed phenomenon seems to be an inefficient removal of sialic acid residues from the avian virus hemagglutinin by the human virus N1 neuraminidase.

Incomplete influenza virus: partial functional complementation as revealed by hemadsorbing cell count test

In MDCK cells inoculated with an appropriate dilution of influenza virus, single hemadsorbing cells could be counted 8 h postinfection against a background of nonadsorbing cells. Standard virus preparation exhibited a linear relationship between the virus dilution and the number of hemadsorbing cells. With incomplete virus preparations obtained by passages of undiluted virus in chicken embryo, the dependence was nonlinear. A ts mutant (ts-29) of A/FPV/Weybridge (Hav1 Neq1) failed to convert MDCK cells into a hemadsorbing state at 42 degrees C. The ability of ts-29 to produce hemadsorbing cells could be rescued by incomplete wild-type virus. The capacity of incomplete virus for this partial functional complementation was inactivated by UV irradiation with one-hit kinetics. The size of the target was estimated to be 5.5 times smaller than that of the virus genome. The results suggest that at least some of the influenza virus genes in defective interfering particles are functional.

Homologous interference mediated by defective interfering influenza virus derived from a temperature-sensitive mutant of influenza virus

A temperature-sensitive group II mutant of influenza virus, ts-52, with a presumed defect in viral RNA synthesis, readily produced von Magnus-type defective interfering virus (DI virus) when passed serially (four times) at high multiplicity in MDBK cells. The defective virus (ts-52 DI virus) had a high hemagglutinin and a low infectivity titer, and strongly interfered with the replication of standard infectious viruses (both ts-52 and wild-type ts+) in co-infected cells. Progeny virus particles produced by co-infection of DI virus and infectious virus were also defective and also had low infectivity, high hemagglutinating activity, and a strong interfering property. Infectious viruses ts+ and ts-52 were indistinguishable from ts-52 DI viruses by sucrose velocity or density gradient analysis. Additionally, these viruses all possessed similar morphology. However, when the RNA of DI viruses was analyzed by use of polyacrylamide gels containing 6 M urea, there was a reduction in the amount of large RNA species (V1 to V4), and a number of new smaller RNA species (D1 to D6) with molecular weights ranging from 2.9 X 10(5) to 1.05 X 10(5) appeared. Since these smaller RNA species (D1 to D6) were absent in some clones of infectious viruses, but were consistently associated with DI viruses and increased during undiluted passages and during co-infection of ts-52 with DI virus, they appeared to be a characteristic of DI viruses. Additionally, the UV target size of interfering activity and infectivity of DI virus indicated that interfering activity was 40 times more resistant to UV irradiation than was infectivity, further implicating small RNA molecules in interference. Our data suggest that the loss of infectivity observed among DI viruses may be due to nonspecific loss of a viral RNA segment(s), and the interfering property of DI viruses may be due to interfering RNA segments (DIRNA, D1 to D6). ts-52 DI virus interfered with the replication of standard virus (ts+) at both permissive (34 degrees C) and nonpermissive temperatures. The infectivity of the progeny virus was reduced to 0.2% for ts+ and 0.05% for ts-52 virus without a reduction in hemagglutinin titer. Interference was dependent on the concentration of DI virus. A particle ratio of 1 between DI virus (0.001 PFU/cell) and infectious virus (1.0 PFU/cell) produced a maximal amount of interference. Infectious virus yield was reduced 99.9% without any reduction of the yield of DI viruses Interference was also dependent on the time of addition of DI virus. Interference was most effective within the first 3 h of infection by infectious virus, indicating interference with an early function during viral replication.