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. 1968 Dec;2(12):1458–1464. doi: 10.1128/jvi.2.12.1458-1464.1968

Labile Coat: Reason for Noninfectious Cell-free Varicella-Zoster Virus in Culture 1

Margery L Cook a, Jack G Stevens a
PMCID: PMC375490  PMID: 4315604

Abstract

Experiments designed to determine why cell-free varicella-zoster virus replicated in cell culture is noninfectious were performed. Electron micrographs in which varicella-zoster virus (a herpesvirus) was compared to herpes simplex virus in primary human amnion cell cultures showed that the viruses were morphologically indistinguishable inside the nucleus. However, extranuclear varicella-zoster viruses were distinguished from herpes simplex virus by the presence of pleomorphism, incomplete coats, and a resultant loss of central dense cores. This result indicates that varicella-zoster virus possesses a labile coat which is degraded outside the nucleus. It is suggested that the labile coat is a principal reason for the lack of cell-free infectious virus in this system.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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