Increase in DNA polymerase alpha in nuclei of chicken kidney cells after avian adenovirus infection.

DNA polymerase activity which sedimented at about 7s in the presence of 0.5M KC1 increased in cultured kidney cells after infection with a chicken embryo lethal orphan virus, an avian adenovirus. Elevated levels of antigenic material to a monoclonal antibody specific for the large subunit of chicken DNA polymerase alpha were also detected in nuclei of virus-infected cells by an immunofluorescence method. Since the elevations of DNA polymerase activity and of nuclear immunofluorescence was not inhibited with 1-beta-D-arabinofuranosylcytosine, the early viral gene(s) seems to be responsible for the induction of the synthesis and nuclear accumulation of DNA polymerase alpha.