ABSTRACT
A productive infection of cells by vesicular stomatitis virus-lndiana can be divided into several steps. These are adsorption of the virus to the cell membrane, followed by penetration into the cell and uncoating of the virion to expose the viral nucleocapsid; transcription of the viral genome into mRNA species by the transcriptase enzymes present in infecting virions; and synthesis of viral proteins. Attachment of rhabdoviruses to susceptible cell membranes involves an initial association between the viral glycoprotein spikes and some as yet undefined host cell receptor. The glycoprotein spike of rhabdoviruses is the only viral antigen capable of binding virus neutralizing antibodies and of eliciting their formation. The infectivity of many types of viruses, rhabdoviruses included, is greatly affected by pretreatment of host cells with polyions at certain times before infection or by the addition of polyions to the virus inoculum. Initial synthesis of intracellular rhabdovirus mRNA occurs by transcription from the parental genome utilizing the infecting virion polymerase.
