Characterization of the vaccinia virus L1R myristylprotein as a component of the intracellular virion envelope

In many cases, virus-encoded acylproteins appear to localize to specific ellular and viral membranes and to be directly involved with the processes of virus mor-phogenesis and/or egress from the infected cell. It was therefore of interest to determine whether the major vaccinia virus (VV) myristylprotein, LIR, is specifically associated with one or more of the membranes en-veloping various infectious forms of W virions. To this end, single-membraned intraeellular virions (INV) and extraceUular enveloped virions (EEV), which are sur-rounded by at least two distinct membranes, were purified from W-infected cell lysates. The location of the VV L1R protein was determined by using a monospecific anti-L1R serum to detect he L1 R protein by immunoblot in INV- and EEV-containing fractions