Effect of a mutation in the VSV G protein on the synthesis and maturation of nucleocapsids.

The tsO45 (V) mutant of vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) has been used to demonstrate that discrimination between positive (+) and negative (-) strand nucleocapsids in the process of budding mature virions is maintained despite the lack of detectable G protein in either the plasma membrane or the virus membrane. These data indicate that the VSV G protein plays no active role in the discrimination between negative- and positive-strand nucleocapsids which will mature to virions. The synthesis of intracellular nucleocapsids in tsO45 (V)-infected cells at permissive and non-permissive conditions was also examined in comparison with that of the wild-type virus. No differences were observed in intracellular nucleocapsid quantity or polarity in any of these cases despite a 97% inhibition of virus yield in the case of tsO45 (V) at non-permissive temperature.