Intracellular production of virus particles and viral components in NIH/3T3 cells chronically infected with Moloney murine leukemia virus: effect of interferon.

The effect of interferon on the biochemical properties and the maturation process of intracellular viral particles isolated from the cytoplasmic fraction of NIH/3T3 cells chronically infected with Moloney murine leukemia virus was investigated. By labeling these virions with either [35S]methionine or [3H]glucosamine, we demonstrated that they contain the same viral proteins and glycoproteins found in extracellular virions. Interferon treatment was found to reduce the rate of intracellular virus assembly. This effect was not a consequence of an interferon inhibition of viral RNA synthesis or its translation or a consequence of an interference with the posttranslational cleavage processing of viral precursor proteins, since all of these steps were not affected by interferon. However, the reduced rate of virus assembly could be attributed to the inhibition of viral protein glycosylation observed in interferon-treated cells. Nevertheless, despite this reduced rate, virus particles accumulated in interferon-treated cells. This accumulation was probably due to the strong inhibition of their final release from such cells.