Morphogenesis of the Murine Mammary Tumor Virus in Cells Treated with Inhibitors of Protein Glycosylation

Abstract

Tunicamycin (TM) and 2-deoxyglucose (2-DG) have been shown to inhibit the glycosylation of the polypeptides of many enveloped viruses, including retroviruses. The production of the two retroviruses that have been studied to date, the murine leukemia and Rous sarcoma viruses, is significantly inhibited by TM and 2-DG. Moreover, the viruses that are released from the treated cells lack their envelope glycoproteins and are noninfectious. In order to determine if TM and 2-DG have a similar effect on the murine mammary tumor virus (MuMTV) we examined the morphogenesis of MuMTV in TM and 2-DG treated and non-treated MuMTV producing tissue culture cells.