Herpes-type virus of the frog renal adenocarcinoma. I. Virus development in tumor transplants maintained at low temperature.

Development of the herpes-type virus of the frog kidney tumor was investigated by electron microscopy and high-resolution autoradiography in eyechamber transplants of tumor maintained at 7.5 C for up to 27 weeks. Virus particles were first detected at 10 weeks in nuclei containing aggregates of dense granular material. The initial incorporation of a pulse of (3)H-thymidine into these aggregates indicated that they contained newly synthesized viral deoxyribonucleic acid. Capsids enclosing doubleshelled cores were labeled with (3)H-thymidine before capsids with dense cores, and intermediate core forms were observed, suggesting that the double-shelled core transforms into the dense core. Particles with dense cores were observed while being enveloped by budding through the inner membrane of the nuclear envelope, and subsequently while being unenveloped in passing through the outer membrane into the cytoplasm. Virus particles within the cytoplasm acquired fibrillar coats and budded into vesicles, from which they were released, in enveloped form, at the cell surface. Tubular forms and particles considerably smaller than virus particles were regularly encountered in infected nuclei, and the relationship of these forms to virus replication is discussed.