Testing for HIV infection in time: scientific reasons.

The author advocates testing, diagnosis and therapy of HIV infection as soon as possible after contracting the virus and whenever feasible. The arguments are deduced from the results of basic research. The following should be reduced, delayed or inhibited: (1) the viral load in blood plasma and semen; (2) rapid internal propagation of the virus, which is combined with integration of proviruses into cells of unknown life span and compartmentalisation (e.

Nuclear export of recombinant baculovirus nucleocapsids through small pore or nuclear-pore-like structure in Sf9 cells.

Translocation of baculovirus nucleocapsids (45 nm in diameter, approximate length of 280-300 nm) from nucleoplasm to cytoplasm was studied morphologically using cryofixation and gold labeled wheat germ agglutinin (WGA-gold) during recombinant Autographa californica nuclear polyhedrosis virus infection in Sf9 cells. Nucleocapsids formed in the nucleoplasm migrated into protrusions of the nuclear envelope, but not into nuclear pore complexes. We found cross-like membranous structures.

Temperature-sensitive steps in the transport of Semliki Forest virus envelope proteins in mosquito C6/36 cells.

We have analysed the temperature dependence of the transport of Semliki Forest virus (SFV) envelope proteins in mosquito cells, the natural host cells of alphaviruses. These cells are cultivated at a lower temperature (28 degrees C) and have a different lipid composition as compared to mammalian cells. When the incubation temperature was reduced at early times after infection, the onset of virus shedding was delayed and the maximal titers decreased correspondingly to the temperature.

Chemically induced plasma membrane vesicles as a useful tool for the investigation of virus binding to susceptible cells.

Binding to the surface of susceptible cells, the initial step of viral infections, represents an yet poorly understood event in the case of alphaviruses. In intact cells, the binding per se can only be studied when endocytosis is inhibited, e.g.