Inhibition of mouse L cell protein synthesis by ultraviolet-irradiated vesicular stomatitis virus requires viral transcription

Ultraviolet-irradiated vesicular stomatitis (VS) virus (Indiana serotype) was used to determine which viral gene functions are required for expression of cellular protein synthesis inhibition. To carry out this experiment a method, described in this report, was employed that allows the simultaneous quantitation of viral and host protein synthesis. We demonstrated earlier using ultraviolet irradiation that to express cell killing, only about one-fifth of the VS virus genome corresponding to proteins N and NS need be transcribed. Previous results using temperature-sensitive mutants of VS virus indicated that inhibition of protein synthesis and cell killing are conjointly expressed. In this report it is demonstrated that the inhibition of cellular protein synthesis by a high multiplicity ( m pfp = 100) of uv-irradiated VS virus, like cell killing, requires the transcription and translation of N (and possibly NS) protein.