Abstract
Summary
It was observed that nucleoli of chick embryo cells infected with certain al-phaviruses fragmented before the cells themselves showed any other cytopathic effects. The nucleoli in cells infected with SFV or SIN virus were fragmented 2 hr after inoculation, but fragmentation was first observed 4 hr postinoculation in cells infected with EEE or Chikungunya viruses. No fragmentation was observed with VEE or any of three strains of WEE virus. These results were obtained with electron and/or light microscopy. Fragmentation was observed in a variety of other cells and cell lines infected with SIN virus. The fragmentation was independent of the multiplicity of infection (MOI) at MOIs greater than 10. No other RNA viruses have been shown to cause this type of fragmentation. Since fragmentation occurred early and proceeded rapidly, components of the infecting virus or early viral proteins which apparently are not common to all members of the alphavirus group appear to be responsible for this fragmentation.
We wish to thank Dr. Bill Brinkley for the electron micrographs and helpful discussion.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.