title: Viral induced fusion and syncytium formation: measurement by the Kolmogorov-Smirnov statistical test.
abstract: Fusion and syncytium formation induced by the expression of fusogenic viral glycoproteins are common cytopathic effects. Numerous laboratories have studied mechanisms of fusion, generally with each laboratory utilizing a different method to measure polykaryote formation. There is little consensus as to which methods are preferred for measuring and comparing fusion. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov two-sample test was used to document a statistical difference in syncytium formation between two forms of a varicella-zoster virus (VZV) fusogenic glycoprotein. This test is widely applied toward the analysis of large human populations in which interest centers on testing the hypothesis that the distributions of two sub-populations are identical. We suggest that the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test is a preferable method to assess whether differences in distribution of syncytia size between two fusogenic glycoproteins are meaningful statistically.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, University of Iowa Hospital/2501 JCP, 200 Hawkins Drive, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA.
authors.forename: Tracy Jo
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Pasieka
authors.forename: Robert F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Woolson
authors.forename: Charles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Grose
mesh_terms: D003588:Cytopathogenic Effect, Viral; D015726:Giant Cells / Q000502:physiology*; D006367:HeLa Cells; D014645:Herpesvirus 3, Human / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D006801:Humans; D008561:Membrane Fusion; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D014773:Virology / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
chemical_list: D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins