BIOGENESIS OF VACCINIA - COMPLEMENTATION AND RECOMBINATION ANALYSIS OF ONE GROUP OF CONDITIONAL-LETHAL MUTANTS DEFECTIVE IN ENVELOPE SELF-ASSEMBLY

Five temperature-sensitive (ts) mutants of vaccinia virus, which mimic the effects of rifampicin, being defective in assembly of the envelope and maturation, were characterized. Although the mutants showed a similar morphogenetic phenotype when examined by electron microscopy, analyses by isotopic pulse-chase experiments in which the viral polypeptides were separated by polyacrylamide slab gels, and complementation titrations between the mutants, indicated that each mutation produced a distinct defect. Recombination experiments suggested a close relationship between resistance to the antibiotic rifampicin and the ts mutations studied. This result was supported by the apparent covariance of the drug resistance and ts markers. © 1979.