[Properties of hepatitis A virus particles produced during infection in vitro]

Four types of virus-specific particles with different sedimentation coefficients and buoyant densities in CsCl were shown to be accumulated in hepatitis A virus (strain HAS-15) infected fetal rhesus monkey kidney cells (FRhK-4 line). Unlike the mature virions (155S, 1.34 g/cm3), cell-associated isosedimenting 92 S-particles (buoyant densities of 1.30 and 1.20 g/cm3) proved to be sensitive to lipase action. Particles of all four types were shown to contain similar sets of polypeptides, and, with the exception of "empty" 1.30 g/cm3-particles, appeared to be "full" under the immune electron microscopic examination. The viral RNA was unequivocally identified by the molecular hydridization test only in the mature virions.