Inhibition of the Release of Virion-Associated Murine Leukemia Virus Genomic RNA by Vesicular Stomatitis Virus

The genomic RNAs of murine leukemia virus (MuLV) and vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) were distinguishable based on a difference in sedimentation coefficient, polyadenylic acid content, and nucleotide sequence homology. Applying these biochemical characteristics, we found that the release of virion-associated MuLV genomic RNA from virus-producing cells was inhibited by VSV as early as 2 h after superinfection. This finding offers an explanation to our previous inability to detect MuLV(VSV) pseudotype formation during mixed infection with VSV and MuLV.