Intracellular Components Associated with Chikungunya Virus-Specific Ribonucleic Acids in Infected BHK21 Cells

Abstract

Cytoplasmic extracts of BHK21 cells infected with Chikungunya virus were analyzed by sucrose gradient sedimentation. Besides 140S nucleocapsid, 65S component associated with 26S single-stranded ribonucleic acid was labeled with ³H-uridine in acinomycin-treated infected cells. The 65S component, demonstrable in ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid-containing buffers, appeared to accumulate when protein synthesis was inhibited. After glutaraldehyde fixation, this component had a density of 1.48-1.50g/ml in CsCl. Pulse-chase experiments did not indicate that the 65S component was a precursor of the 140S nucleocapsid.