Tryptic peptide analysis of the structural proteins of vesicular stomatitis virus

The individual structural polypeptides of vesicular stomatitis virus have been examined by tryptic peptide analysis of 35S-methionine preparations labelled in vivo and 125I-preparations labelled in vitro. Isolates of the two classical serotypes of the virus (Indiana and New Jersey) and of a sub-type of the Indiana serotype, Brazil virus, were compared. The study showed that the major internal proteins of all three viruses gave similar maps, whereas the surface glycoproteins gave distinct maps that had very few spots in common. The map of the glycoprotein of Brazil virus, which has been shown previously to be more closely related serologically to Indiana virus than to New Jersey virus, did not show any greater similarity to the Indiana virus than to the New Jersey virus glycoprotein. On the other hand, peptide maps of the nucleoprotein and matrix protein showed Indiana and Brazil viruses to be more closely related to each other than to New Jersey virus.