Early replicative block prevents the efficient growth of fastidious diarrhea- associated adenoviruses in cell culture.

Fastidious enteral adenoviruses (EAds) recovered from infants with diarrhea were studied to determine the basis for their inability to propagate efficiently in conventional cell lines. By immunofluorescence microscopy, only rare EAd-infected KB and HeLa cells were shown to synthesize detectable levels of virion proteins. Sedimentation of Hirt-extracted DNAs in sucrose gradients and DNA hybridization analyses demonstrated that EAd DNA synthesis is highly restricted in HeLa cells. Some early gene functions seem to be expressed, however, because Eads can help adenovirus-associated viruses (AAV). Thus, EAd replication in conventional cell lines is blocked at an early step in its growth cycle.