Effect of tunicamycin on rotavirus assembly and infectivity

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Abstract
Bovine rotavirus grown in the presence or absence of tunicamycin was analyzed with respect to yield of infectious virus, the ratio of complete to incomplete particles and polypeptide composition. Tunicamycin at a concentration of 1 .mu.g/ml reduced virus yields by 4 log and completely prevented the incorporation of [3H]uridine into complete rotavirus particles, as determined by CsCl gradient analysis. Concomitant with a reduction in complete particles, 3 rotavirus polypeptides shifted in their relative position on polyacrylamide gels from 41,900 MW position (41.9K), 29.3K and 16.1K to migrate at 35.5K, 22.7K and 15.5K, respectively. Limited proteolysis indicated that the lower MW polypeptides possessed the same constituent peptides as the larger polypeptides, suggesting that they represented the unglycosylated equivalents. Thus, interference with glycosylation evidently prevents proper assembly of the outer coat proteins in bovine rotavirus.