Vaccinia virus has a complex structure. Thin sections of virus particles show three structural components: the outer envelope, the lateral bodies and a central structure, known as the ‘core’, which contains the virus DNA (Dales, 1963). Easterbrook (1966) showed that treatment with the nonionic detergent NP40, in the presence of 2-mercaptoethanol (2 ME) leads to the dissociation of the outer membrane and release of the core.
By polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, Holowczak & Joklik (1967) identified at least 17 structural polypeptides, three of which were associated with the core. Katz & Moss (1970) showed that some of these polypeptide peaks could be further separated into two to three polypeptides, thus increasing the total number of resolved structural polypeptides to 22.
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