Four calves were exposed via aerosol to 1 of 2 strains of foot-and-mouth disease virus. Two animals received virus derived from an infectious clone virus (A12-IC) and 2 received virus derived from the same clone but which lacked the leader coding region (A12-LLV2) that codes for a protein responsible for turning off host protein synthesis. Animals were euthanized at 24 and 72 h post exposure. Cattle receiving A12-IC had a rapid course of disease with more virus in tissues while A12-LLV2-infected cattle did not develop clinical signs of disease. Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue sections were probed with digoxigenin-labeled riboprobes corresponding to the coding sequence for bovine interferon (IFN) alpha and IFNbeta. Staining for IFNalpha mRNA was noted in mononuclear cells of the lungs of all animals and in respiratory lymph nodes of cattle receiving A12-IC. Staining for IFNbeta mRNA was confined to bronchiolar epithelium and present only in the animals infected with A12-IC. Inability of the A12-LLV2 virus to achieve levels of spread seen with A12-IC may be related to translation of IFNalpha in A12-LLV2-infected cells, which renders adjacent cells less susceptible to productive infection.