INTERFERENCE OF REOVIRUS STRAINS OCCURS BETWEEN THE STAGES OF UNCOATING AND DSRNA ACCUMULATION

Interference of wild-type reovirus growth by some temperature-sensitiv e (ts) mutant viruses under non-permissive conditions or by other wild -type isolates has been demonstrated; however, the stage of the virus replication cycle at which interference occurs has not been defined. E xamination of the time-course of the yields of T1 Lang (T1L) dsRNA in the progeny of mixed infections of T1L with T3 Dearing (T3D) or with a panel of T3D ts mutants at a non-permissive temperature revealed that interference takes place by 8-10 h postinfection and occurs prior to or at the same time as accumulation of reovirus dsRNA. Taken together with our previous results, these data indicate that interference occur s during a window between virus uncoating and synthesis of dsRNA in th e reovirus replication cycle, probably at the stage of assembly of pri mary reovirus particles.