Feline calicivirus: purification of virus and extraction and characterisation of its ribonucleic acid.

Purification of feline calicivirus was achieved by cycles of differential centrifugation and two cycles of sucrose gradient centrifugation. Feline calicivirus grown in the presence of Actinomycin D and 3H-uridine-5, sediments in 15% to 45% sucrose gradients and forms a peak of radioactivity which corresponds with the peak of infectivity. Ribonucleic acid (RNA) extracted from the peak radioactive fractions taken from the sucrose gradient sedimented as a single peak ahead of the 28S peak of cellular RNA. It was sensitive to ribonuclease and was presumed to be single stranded feline calicivirus RNA with sedimentation of 32S-35S. A single peak of radioactivity at 35S was extracted from purified virus by heating at 60 degrees for two minutes in 1% sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS), or by heating at 37 degrees for 5 minutes at 1% SDS. Virus extracted at 37 degrees for 10 minutes in 1% SDS showed also a small peak at 16S and by 15 minutes at 37 degrees only a broad peak at 16S occurred. All peaks were susceptible to ribonuclease. A component sedimenting at 18S which was resistent to degradation by ribonuclease under the conditions outlined by Baltimore (4) and presumed to be double-stranded RNA was present in kitten kidney cells infected with feline calicivirus.