The effect of mutation in the NS gene on the biological properties of the influenza virus

: The biological properties of influenza virus strain A/PR/8/34, virulent from mice, and its variant 25A-1, obtained by hybridization with avirulent strain A/Leningrad. This reassortant 25A-1 included 7 genes of its virulent parent strain and only gene NS of the avirulent one, which contained a single mutation in position 798 (ATG=>ATA), inducing amino acid change MET=>IIe in position 100 of the polypeptide chain of protein NS2. The loss of pathogenic properties by strain A/PR/8/34 was achieved by replacing the single gene NS with an analogous mutant gene of the variant strain A/Leningrad, adapted to low temperatures. The single-gene reassortant 25A-1 thus obtained possessed, besides decreased capacity for multiplication in the lungs of mice, ts phenotype on MDCK cells, but exhibited no thermal sensitivity in cell systems of avian origin. The above-mentioned phenotypic changes in reassortant 25A-1 were due to disturbances in virus-specific protein synthesis at early and late stages, as detected in vivo and in vitro.