The terminal protein of minute virus of mice is an 83 kilodalton polypeptide linked to specific forms of double-stranded and single-stranded viral DNA.

A new assay (label transfer from DNA to protein) enabled the identification of a terminal protein (TP) in nucleoprotein complexes extracted from cells infected with the parvovirus, minute virus of mice, MVM. In SDS-PAGE, TP migrates as a major band at 83 kDa, with a minor 65 kDa component, each of which exactly co-migrates with the cellular forms of the virally coded polypeptide NS-1. In parallel, the analysis of nucleoproteins by SDS-agarose gel electrophoresis allowed us to observe that the major species of viral DNA molecules (mRF, dRF and ssDNA) are all present in the form of DNA-protein complexes. Three forms of mRF DNA were identified, two of which are protein-associated and one which appears to be protein-free.