ABSTRACT
The lipoprotein envelope of the Sendai virus is essential for fusion and the inherent infectivity of nucleic acid is lost by ultraviolet treatment. Since the discovery of Sendai virus as a fusion inducing agent, several other viruses as well as chemicals have been shown to induce or promote somatic hybridization. In addition to Sendai virus, cell fusion can be induced by several other viruses including arboviruses all of which have the common property of having envelopes. As virus induced cell fusion is associated with virus cell surface interactions, plant lectins, which often bind strongly with cell membrane have been explored in this connection. In order to eliminate the toxic properties of lysolecithin, the undesirable effects of Sendai virus, like interference in the release of transforming virus, alteration in the surface properties and metabolic pathways and chromosomal aberrations, lipid vesicles prepared from phospholipids have been utilized to fuse mammalian cells of different lines.
