Interfering Component of Vesicular Stomatitis Virus

Abstract

INTERFERENCE during the replication of vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) was first described by Cooper and Bellett¹, who suggested that the interfering activity which was present in viruses collected after several successive undiluted passages resulted from a transmissible component. Although they did not identify the component, evidence was presented that it was not the virion. Cantell et al.² obtained interference whenever a high multiplicity of infection was used, irrespective of the passage history of the virus. Studies in this laboratory³ have shown that viruses collected from both high and low multiplicities of infection possess interfering activity, although repeated undiluted passage of virus is more likely to give a product with marked interference effects. These studies also showed that the interference does not result from interferon but is probably caused by an incomplete form of the virus.