Figure 3.

Cholesterol depletion within the virion reduces RVFV infectivity. (A) Purified RVFV was treated for 4 h with increasing doses of MβCD and viral titers measured by the plaque assay. (B) RVFV was treated with 1 mM MβCD and supplemented with 100 μM cholesterol (“chol”) or mevalonate (“mev”). Viral titers were measured by the plaque assay after 4 h of incubation. (C) Viral genomes were quantified and compared to viral titers in RVFV samples treated with increasing doses of MβCD. (D) Viral attachment was measured by incubating the virus, cells, or both with 1 mM MβCD for 4 h prior to the plaque-mediated attachment assay. (E) Viral attachment was similarly measured by qRT-PCR, measuring cell-associated viral genomes after treatment with 1 mM MβCD (p = 0.09 vs NT) and 10 μM U18666A (p = 0.08 vs NT). *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001 by Student’s T-test (N ≥ 3).