A comparison of Junin virus strains: growth characteristics, cytopathogenicity and viral polypeptides.

The growth characteristics, cytopathogenicity and viral polypeptides of the virulent strain XJ of Junin virus (JV), its attenuated derivative XJC13 and another naturally attenuated JV strain, IV4454, were comparatively studied. IV4454 and XJC13 viruses showed the highest and lowest cytopathology for Vero cells, respectively, as measured by plaque morphology, cell viability and inhibition of host cell protein synthesis. The kinetics and electrophoretic patterns of viral polypeptides in infected cell extracts were very similar among the three strains, whereas differences were detected in the surface glycoprotein GP38 by peptide mapping after limited proteolysis.