[GANN, 54, 59-70; March, 1963] UDC 576.858.6[578.085.23]:547.963.32.07:578.6[778.3] IN VITRO STUDIES ON POLYOMA VIRUS INFECTION, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO DEOXYRIBONUCLEIC ACID SYNTHESIS AS DETERMINED BY AUTORADIOGRAPHY*1 (Plates VI-VIII)

DNA synthesis in polyoma virus-infected mouse embryo cultures was studied by means of autoradiography and correlated cytological and immunofluorescent analyses. In confirmation of previous reports concerning the "transformation" of infected cultures, continuously-growing cell populations were obtained. Nevertheless, these cell populations were found to be merely "polyoma virus carriers," capable of producing parotid tumors after inoculation into newborn mice, but not transplantable as neoplastic cells. The autoradiographic results obtained indicated that de novo synthesis of viral DNA takes place. Increased DNA synthesis in polyoma virus infection was concluded to be a primary response caused by active synthesis of viral DNA. In addition, it was evident that synthesis of host-cell DNA also continued to a certain extent.