Detection of adenovirus type 2-induced early polypeptides using cycloheximide pretreatment to enhance viral protein synthesis.

(35S) methionine-labeled polypeptides synthesized by adenovirus type 2-infected cells have been analyzed by polyacrylamide gradient gel electrophoresis and autoradiography. Cycloheximide (CH) was added to infected cultures to accumulate early viral mRNA relative to host cell mRNA. This allowed viral proteins to be synthesized in increased amounts relative to host proteins after removal of CH and pulse-labeling with (35S)methionine. During the labeling period arabinosyl cytosine was added to prevent the synthesis of late viral proteins. This procedure facilitated the detection of six early viral-induced polypeptides, designated EP1 through EP6 (early protein), with apparent molecular weights of 75,000 (75K), 42K, 21K, 18K, 15K, and 11K. Supportive data were obtained by coelectrophoresis of (35S)- and (3H)methionine-labeled polypeptides from infected and uninfected cells, respectively. Three of these early polypeptides have not been previously reported. CH pretreatment enhanced the rates of synthesis of EP4 and EP6 20- to 30-fold and enhanced that of the others approximately twofold. The maximal rates of synthesis of the virus-induced proteins varied, in a different manner, with time postinfection and CH pretreatment. Since CH pretreatment appears to increase the levels of early viral proteins, it may be a useful procedure to assist their isolation and functional characterization.