The assembly and maturation of Autographa californica nuclear polyhedrosis virus virions was observed in detail. Nucleocapsid maturation appeared to begin with the assembly of capsid sheaths on base structures in the pockets of the virogenic stroma. The partially assembled precapsid appeared to associate end-on with the matrix of the virogenic stroma during acquisition of nucleoprotein core complex. Packaging of the nucleoprotein complex appeared to be associated with the cap structure. Nucleocapsid length measurements between wild-type and insertion-mutant virus revealed that greater genome size leads to increased capsid length. A model of nucleocapsid morphogenesis is suggested. Maturation of virions through acquisition of either cell membrane-derived or de novo synthesized envelopes was initiated by attachment of the cap structure of unenveloped nucleocapsids to the enveloping membranes.
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Malcolm J. Fraser (1986) studied this question.