[Helper viruses of adeno-associated virus type 4 replication]

In replication of adeno-associated virus type 4 (AAV-4) the helper function may be performed by a non-defective virus from the same group of parvoviruses (Kilham virus). The synthesis of AAV-4 antigen was observed in a pig embryo kidney cell line, SPEV, chronically infected with Kilham virus, strain RV-13, 45--52 passages. A one-day-old SPEV-Kilham culture was infected with AAV-4. The AAV-4 antigen was detected by immunofluorescence at 6, 8, 12, 18 hours, 2, 3, 4, and 5 days after inoculation. During the first 2--4 days after inoculation the AAV-4 antigen was found in the nucleus and perinuclear zone, later in the cytoplasm. A "new" helper virus for AAV-4 replication has been found: simiancytomegalovirus in human embryo fibroblast cell culture permissive for the helper virus. In the systems where AAV-4 replicates, its antigen can be detected in the nucleus and perinuclear zone by IF. AAV-4 did not replicate in a system insensitive to the helper virus or under non-permissive conditions: at the time, the AAV-4 antigen localized only in the cell cytoplasm was detected.