Abstract:

Vero cell cultures persistently infected with the arenaviruses Junin, Pichinde, Tacaribe, and Tamiami were established and designated Vero-Jun, Vero-Pic, Vero-Tac, and Vero-Tam, respectively. Two types of carrier cultures could be easily distinguished: Vero-Jun and Vero-Tac systems were characterized by a lack of infectious virus production after a few cell transfers, whereas a more productive state with continuous release of virus was observed in Vero-Pic and Vero-Tam cultures. These differences appeared to be related to resistance of the culture to viral superinfection. In fact, Vero-Jun and Vero-Tac cultures totally excluded only the replication of the serologically more closely related arenaviruses Amapari, Junin, or Tacaribe, while the refractoriness of Vero-Pic and Vero-Tam cultures was extended to most of the virus group members. The resistance of Vero-Jun cells to superinfection by Junin or Tacaribe virus could be ascribed to the production of specific uv-resistant Junin interfering particles, which showed a specific range of interference against Junin and Tacaribe viruses. Interfering particles against homotypic and heterotypic arenaviruses were isolated from Vero-Pic cultures. However, the degree of interference developed by these Pic-interfering particles was not enough to fully explain reinfecting virus exclusion from Vero-Pic cultures. Viral susceptibility of persistent cultures is proposed as a useful tool to examine relationships of members of the arenavirus group. © 1983.