Inactivation of Tobacco Mosaic Virus by Rabbit Antiserum

[摘要] Quantitative precipitin analysis of rabbit antiserum to TMV revealed antibody-antigen ratios which plotted as a curve, and suggested a ten-fold change in R from 0.2 at equivalence to 2.0 in extreme antibody excess. An explanation was offered for this large ratio change in which it was assumed that all of the antigenic sites on the virus particle were not satisfied in antibody excess, because of steric hindrance in the precipitates.The virus was shown to be specifically and rapidly inactivated by antibody. Through the serum dilution range examined, specific inactivation was a function of the antibody-antigen ratio. Virus aggregation occurred, but accounted for little or none of the reduced lesion count. The extent of aggregation, at any one ratio, was a function of the total concentration of the reactants. Virus-antibody aggregates were infectious if they contained one or more viable particles. The inactivation data together with the UV multiplicity studies further suggested the possibility that only a minute fraction of the total viral population was infectious.An hypothesis, based on the interpretation of the quantitative precipitin reaction, was presented to explain the inactivation results. It was assumed that the same conditions for steric hindrance which operated in the precipitin reaction were encountered during inactivation to prevent an antibody from combining at a specific virus site necessary to initiate a lesion.

[学科分类] 生物科学（综合）