Fig. 1.

Extraction of RNA from purified authentic FHV virions and VLPs of FHV and NωV. Particles of (A) FHV VLPs, (B) NωV VLPs, and (C) authentic FHV virions were visualized by negative-stain electron microscopy. Scale bars correspond to 50 nm. FHV VLPs form particles 30 nm in diameter that are indistinguishable from authentic FHV virions. NωV VLPs form 40 nm particles. RNA extracted from (D) FHV VLPs, (E) NωV VLPs, and (F) authentic FHV virions was visualized on a 0.8% nondenaturing agarose gel stained with ethidium bromide. FHV virions package two viral RNAs (RNA 1 = 3.1 kb, RNA 2 = 1.4 kb) as indicated. Molecular weights of VLP RNAs are indicated next to the gels.