The autonomously replicating parvoviruses of vertebrates

Abstract

Various aspects of the natural history of autonomous parvoviruses are beginning to be understood in some detail, mostly through the analysis of tissue culture analogs of the pathogenic processes observed in the whole animal. This chapter reviews the current state of knowledge of autonomous parvovirus structure and replication. The chapter explores the strategies employed by these viruses—at the molecular and cellular levels—to parasitize their various hosts. Members of the autonomous parvovirus group are capable of productive replication without the aid of a helper virus in the majority of host cells. Cell cycling—although necessary—is not sufficient for the lytic, productive replication of individual parvovirus strains. The differentiated state of the host cell is of paramount importance. It has also been reported that the surface structure of the viral particle—as monitored by the expression or absence of certain antigenic configurations—may have a dramatic influence on the ability of the virus to replicate in a particular host cell type, and that this capsid-mediated specificity may well involve intracellular interactions with host cell factors, as well as, or rather than, differences in binding to a specific cell surface receptor. © 1987, Academic Press Inc.