BORNA-DISEASE VIRUS (BDV), A NONSEGMENTED RNA VIRUS, REPLICATES IN THE NUCLEI OF INFECTED-CELLS WHERE INFECTIOUS BDV RIBONUCLEOPROTEINS AREPRESENT

Borna disease virus (BDV) causes neurological disease in a wide range of animal species, providing an important model for studies of persist ent viral infection of the central nervous system. In addition, the de tection of antibodies that react with BDV antigen in serum from psychi atric patients suggests a role for BDV, or related viruses, in human m ental disorders, providing further reason for study of this poorly cha racterized neurotropic virus. We present evidence that BDV has a nonse gmented negative single-strand RNA genome with the property that viral replication and transcription take place in the nuclei of infected ce lls where infectious BDV ribonucleoproteins are present. Our results s upport the view that BDV has unique biological features among animal v iruses. Furthermore, the finding that BDV ribonucleoproteins are able to infect susceptible cells raises interesting questions regarding the mechanisms by which some neurotropic viruses may spread through the c entral nervous system of the infected host without requiring the produ ction of mature infectious virus.