What justifies the size of this compendium of reviews on the paramyxoviruses? As intracellular parasites that reproduce with almost complete indifference to nuclear activities, paramyxoviruses have not been providing insights about genes that regulate cellular activities and development, topics that account for much of the excitement in modem biology. For contributions of virus research to those topics, we must look to the retroviruses, which have the propensity to steal developmentally important genes and subvert them to malignant pur poses, and to the nuclear DNA viruses, whose gene expression depends heavily upon cellular transcription machinery, making them exceptionally useful tools for identifying and characterizing components of that machinery. From this perspective, it may appear that purely lytic viruses like the paramyxoviruses are sitting on the sidelines of contemporary biology. But there is plenty of action on the sidelines. Paramyxoviruses remain unconquered, devastating agents of disease. Human deaths attributable to paramyxoviruses worldwide, especially in children, are numbered in the mil lions annually. There are many pathogenic paramyxoviruses and too few effec tive vaccines, and those vaccines (against measles and mumps) are affordable only by relatively affluent nations. Moreover, the paramyxoviruses are intrin sically interesting organisms, presenting the challenge of understanding the self-replication of RNA and many other challenges peculiar to the structures and functions of their proteins, not only as individual entities, but also as they act in concert during virus reproduction and interact with vital functions of the cells they infect and often (but not always) destroy."

This book is a collection of critical reviews about a diverse group of virus families with two features in common: the stable repository of genetic information in each virus is RNA, and each virus modifies and appropriates a particular patch of the eukaryotic cell membrane system to complete its structure. The reviews take the reader from the level of virus genome structure and expression through the quaternary interactions between virus-specified elements and cellular components that cooperate to produce virus particles. There are spectacular illustrations in this volume, but it is much more than a picture gallery. Reading widely in this book can be an effective antidote to overspecialization: in these pages, you are likely to learn much about viruses and about cells that you didn't know before; you'll discover illuminating parallels between diverse virus families; you'll come away with a sharpened awareness of important things that are still to be learned. Memphis, Tenn. , Summer 1984 David W. Kingsbury Preface This book was written at the suggestion of Dr. David W. Kingsbury made at a work shop on viruses organized by the Multiple Sclerosis Society in Aspen, Colorado, U. S. A. , three years ago. Originally, we had thought to focus on the morphological aspects of viral assembly. Later, during our discussions on the process of budding of enveloped RNA viruses, it became evident that we should include biochemical data in our review and correlate them with the structural aspects of virus maturation.

1 The Genetics of Paramyxoviruses.- I. Introduction: The Genome Strategy of the Paramyxoviruses.- II. Genome Organization.- A. Genome Structure and function.- B. Coding Potential.- III. Genetic Interactions.- A. Absence of Genetic Recombination.- B. Complementation Analysis with Conditional Lethal Mutants.- C. Other Mutants.- IV. Analysis of Gene function.- A. Transport and Glycosylation of the G Glycoprotein of Respiratory Syncytial Virus.- B. Membrane Interactions of the F1 Polypeptide of SV5.- C. Gene-Specific Hypermutation in Measles Virus.- V Prospects.- VI. References.- 2 The Molecular Biology of the Paramyxovirus Genus.- I. Introduction.- A. History.- B. General Properties.- II. Virus Structure.- A. Morphology.- B. Virion Envelope and Envelope-Associated Proteins.- C. Internal Virion and Nonstructural Proteins.- III. Viral Replication.- A. Adsorption, Penetration, and Uncoating.- B. Molecular Organization of the Genome.- C. Transcription.- D. Genome Replication.- IV References.- 3 The Molecular Biology of the Morbilliviruses.- I. Introduction.- II. Genome Structure and Replication Strategy.- III. Genetic Relationships among the Morbilliviruses.- A. Nucleocapsid Protein Gene.- B. The Phosphoprotein Gene.- C. Matrix Protein Gene.- D. Fusion Protein Gene.- E. The Hemagglutinin Protein Gene.- F. The L Protein Gene.- IV. Function of the 5? and 3? Untranslated Regions.- V. Diagnosis Using Molecular Techniques.- VI. Morbillivirus Vaccines.- VII. Conclusions.- VIII. References.- 4 The Molecular Biology of Human Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) of the Genus Pneumovirus.- I. Introduction.- II. Structures of the RSV Virion, RNAs, and Proteins.- A. Virion Structure.- B. Overview: Identification of Genomic RNA (vRNA), mRNAs, and Proteins.- C. Genetic Map of Strain A2.- D. Structures of the mRNAs.- E. Sequence Diversity among RSV Strains: Antigenic Subgroups.- F. Structures of the RSV Proteins.- III. RSV Replication.- A. Attachment, Penetration, and Growth Cycle.- B. vRNA Transcription.- C. vRNA Replication.- D. Virion Morphogenesis.- IV. Evolutionary Relationships.- A. RSV Antigenic Subgroups.- B. Relationships with Other Paramyxoviruses.- V. Conclusions.- VI. References.- 5 Evolutionary Relationships of Paramyxovirus Nucleocapsid-Associated Proteins.- I. Introduction.- A. Paramyxovirus Nucleocapsid Structure.- B. Functions of Nucleocapsid-Associated Proteins.- II. Sequence Analyses of Nucleocapsid Proteins.- A. NP Proteins.- B. L Proteins.- C. P Proteins.- III. Conclusions.- IV. References.- 6 The Nonstructural Proteins of Paramyxoviruses.- I. Introduction.- II. Paramyxovirus C Proteins.- A. Identification in Infected Cells.- B. The P and C Proteins are Encoded in Overlapping Reading Frames.- C. Multiple Initiation Codons on One mRNA.- D. Initiation Codon Consensus Sequences and the Scanning Hypothesis.- E. Subcellular Localization and Possible Function of Sendai Virus C Proteins.- F. When is a Nonstructural Protein a Structural Protein?.- G. Identification of C Proteins of Parinfluenza Virus 3, Measles Virus, and CDV.- III. Paramyxovirus Cysteine-Rich Proteins.- A. Identification of the Polypeptide and Its Gene in SV5.- B. Assignment of Coding Regions.- C. Strategy by Which P and V are Encoded.- D. Mechanism for the Addition of Extra Nucleotides to mRNAs.- E. Conservation of the Cysteine-Rich Region of Protein V in Paramyxoviruses.- F. Prediction of Cysteine-Rich Polypeptides and mRNAs with Extra Nucleotides in All Paramyxoviruses.- G. Identification of the Nonstructural Protein V and Its mRNAs in Other Paramyxoviruses.- H. Function of the Paramyxovirus Cysteine-Rich Protein V?.- IV. Paramyxovirus Small Hydrophobic (SH) Proteins.- A. Identification of the Polypeptide and Its Gene in SV5.- B. The SH Gene of Mumps Virus.- V Sendai Virus Nonstructural Polypeptide B: Intracellularly Phosphorylated Matrix Protein.- VI. Prospects.- VII. References.- 7 Paramyxovirus RNA Synthesis and P Gene Expression.- I. Paramyxovirus RNA Synthesis...