The Role of the Mitotic Apparatus in the Intracellular Location of Reovirus Antigen

Abstract

Type 1 reovirus (Lang strain) antigen, demonstrated by fluorescent antibody in dividing human amnion cells (FL), localizes in the areas occupied by the spindles and centrioles. The developmental cycle of viral antigen in interphase cells involves the formation of a reticulum in the cytoplasm that shifts into a perinuclear position as the infection progresses. In the presence of mercaptoethanol, colchicine, podophyllin, and vincaleukoblastine, antimitotic agents known to affect metaphase spindle organization, the network formation is prevented and the antigen is localized as small to large spheres. It is proposed that the spindle material is present throughout the cytoplasm during the interphase of growth as a filamentous reticulum; due to an affinity between spindle components and viral antigen the antigen is oriented by the spindle into a network-like structure. Studies of this phenomenon have the potential of contributing to a better understanding of many basic problems involved in hostvirus interaction and spindle formation.