Natural Selection of Mutants of Vesicular Stomatitis Virus by Cultured Cells of Drosophila melanogaster

Abstract

SUMMARY The infection of cultured cells of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster (Schneider) with vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) led to the establishment of persistent non-cytocidal infection. After weeks or months of persistent infection many VSV variants or mutants were detected all of which showed increased capacity for growth in these insect cells. We present a preliminary characterization of these viruses arising in the Drosophila cells.