Constituents of Elementary Bodies of Vaccinia

Abstract

Suspensions of purified elementary bodies of vaccinia exhibit fluorescence in the presence of ultraviolet light. This fluorescent constituent can be separated by chromatographic methods provided the virus is first denatured by acid and heat. By means of the specific protein of d-amino acid oxidase it has been possible to identify the flavin constituent as flavin-adenine-dinucleotide and show that it can participate in the oxidative deamination of d-alanine. By means of microbiological assay the flavin component has been quantitatively measured and shown to compare favorably in concentration with that observed in animal cells and in some bacteria; its concentration in virus is lower than that observed in yeast. The demonstration that it exists as an integral portion of the virus is not conclusive. So far, however, it has been separated from the elementary bodies only by means which in themselves inactivate the virus.