Defective-interfering particles of the human parvovirus adeno-associated virus

Abstract

We have previously shown that adeno-associated virus (AAV) grown in KB cells with a helper adenovirus, produced several classes of particles defined by their buoyant density in CsCl. The predominant density classes were referred to as AAV(1.450, AAV(1.41), AAV(1.35), and AAV(1.32), respectively, where the density of the particles was written in the parentheses. The AAV(1.45) and AAV(1.41) particles which contained standard genomes were the only infectious AAV particles. These infectious AAV particles exhibited autointerference. The light-density AAV(1.35) and (1.32) particles contained aberrant (deleted and/or snap-back) genomes. We report here experiments which show that the light-density AAV particles were noninfectious but interfered with the replication of AAV(1.41). The interference was intracellular and resulted in inhibition of synthesis of standard (14.5 S) AAV genomes. In some cases there was also a concomitant increase in synthesis of aberrant, shorter AAV DNA. The inhibitory activity of the light-density particles was abolished by uv irradiation. These results show that the population of light AAV particles contained DI particles. The observed autointerference of AAV(1.45) or AAV(1.41) virus is postulated to be due to AAV DI particles. Replication of AAV DI genomes appeared to require the presence of replicating, standard AAV genomes. This is interpreted to mean that progeny strand replication of AAV requires an AAV-specified product, presumably the AAV capsid protein. In contrast to standard, infectious AAV, the AAV DI particles alone do not inhibit replication of the helper adenovirus.