Identification of an amino acid change that affects N protein function in vesicular stomatitis virus

TsW16B is a temperature-sensitive mutant of vesicular stomatitis virus. Others have shown that it is temperature-sensitive for replication in vivo and for transcription in vitro and that these phenotypes are probably due to mutation of the N (nucleocapsid) gene. Five independent revertants were isolated from tsW16B based on their ability to grow at 39 degrees C. The thermosensitivity of in vitro transcription by these revertants was similar to that of the wild-type virus [wt(HR)] from which tsW16B was derived. Fractionation-reconstitution studies of two revertants indicated that the reversion was in the N or P (phosphoprotein) gene. The N and P genes of wt(HR), tsW16B, and these two revertants were sequenced. There were no differences between the P genes. Comparison of the predicted N protein sequences of wt(HR), tsW16B and the two revertants indicated that the growth and in vitro transcription phenotypes of tsW16B were due to a change of amino acid residue 238 from threonine to isoleucine. The amino acid at position 238 in the other three revertants also showed an exact reversion to threonine. Amino acid residue 238 lies in a domain of the N protein which is highly conserved among vesiculoviruses.