Inhibition of mitosis and macromolecular synthesis in rat embryo cells by Kilham rat virus.

The effects of Kilham rat virus multiplication were studied in cultured rat embryo cells to examine the mechanisms by which virus infection might be related to developmental defects in rats and hamsters. The virus was found to inhibit motosis and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) synthesis within 2 to 10 hr after infection. However, total ribonucleic acid synthesis was relatively unaffected until about 20 hr after infection, and total protein synthesis did not decline significantly until loss of viable cells was apparent in the cultures. No effect on chromosomes was detected. The effect of Kilham rat virus on DNA synthesis appears to be due to inhibition of macromolecular synthesis rather than to an inhibition of uptake of precursors into cells. The effect of the virus on mitosis may be an addition to the effect on DNA synthesis, since mitosis is inhibited even in cultures in which cells are able to divide at the time of infection and which have presumably completed DNA synthesis.