Formation of recombinants between snowshoe hare and La Crosse bunyaviruses

Abstract

Wild-type recombinants were obtained at high frequency from co-infections of BHK [baby hamster kidney] cells involving temperature-sensitive, conditional-lethal mutants of snowshoe hare (SSH) and La Crosse (LAC) bunyaviruses. Analyses of 2 of the recombinants indicated that they have the genome compositions SSH/LAC/SSH and SSH/LAC/LAC for their respective L, M and S virion RNA species. This evidence, together with that for the genetic stability of the recombinants, indicates that they were derived by segment re-assortment of the competent genome pieces of the parental viruses. The SSH/LAC/SSH recombinant appears, from polypeptide analysis, to have the SSH type of nucleocapsid protein (N), whereas the SSH/LAC/LAC recombinant has the LAC nucleocapsid protein, suggesting that the viral S RNA codes for the N protein.