Comparative membrane microviscosity of fish and mammalian rhabdoviruses studied by fluorescence depolarization

The microviscosity of the hydrophobic region of the membrane of infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus was determined using fluorescence depolarization analysis of the probe 1,6 diphenyl 1,3,5 hexatriene and was found to be much lower at 37C than that of another rhabdovirus, vesicular stomatitis virus. However, the microviscosity of this fish virus at 18C, the temperature at which it was grown, corresponded to the microviscosity of vesicular stomatitis virus at 37C. Data obtained with the fish virus host cell (chinook salmon embryo cells) grown at 18C suggest that its membranes have a lower microviscosity than either L 929 or BHK 21 cells (the vesicular stomatitis virus host cells) grown at 37C.