Protease Activation of Sendai Virus Infectivity; Studies in Non-Permissive and Permissive Cells

Non-infectious virus particles are produced by BSC-1 cells after infection with Sendai virus. Trypsin treatment of these particles activates their infectivity. The studies reported here show that such non-infectious virus particles adsorb normally to cells but cannot initiate infection even after very long adsorption periods. Secondary Rhesus monkey kidney cells support the growth of Sendai virus but cannot activate the infectivity of virus grown in BSC-1 cells. The significance of these results is discussed.