AN ELECTRON MICROSCOPE STUDY OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF SV40 VIRUS

Abstract

Kidney cells, predominantly from Cercopithecus monkeys but also from baboons, were infected in vitro with the SV40 virus. The infectious cycle was studied with the electron microscope by means of thin sections of cells fixed from 3 hours up to 11 days after infection. The frequency of virus formation and various nuclear and cytoplasmic lesions in relation to the infection are described. The virus particles appear in the nucleus in close contact with the chromatin. In a small number of cells they have been observed as early as 10 to 12 hours after infection, but most often they appear 24 to 48 hours afterward. Their mean diameter is 33 mµ. They have no membrane and are frequently arranged as crystal-like structures. In addition to the appearance of virus, one observes various lesions in the nucleoplasm and particularly in the nucleolus, which shows an early hypertrophy and produces unusual, dense condensations in contact with the nucleolonema. The importance of these nucleolar lesions and the relationship between the SV40 virus and the polyoma, common wart, and Shope papilloma viruses are discussed.