Synthesis of Nucleic Acid and Protein in L Cells Infected with the Agent of Meningopneumonitis

Abstract

Schechter, Esther M. (The University of Chicago, Chicago, Ill.). Synthesis of nucleic acid and protein in L cells infected with the agent of meningopneumonitis. J. Bacteriol. 91: 2069–2080. 1966.—Synthesis of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), ribonucleic acid (RNA), and protein in uninfected L cells and in L cells infected with the meningopneumonitis agent was compared by measuring rates of incorporation of H 3 -cytidine and C 14 -lysine into nuclear, cytoplasmic, and agent fractions in successive 5-hr periods during the meningopneumonitis growth cycle. Synthesis of meningopneumonitis DNA, RNA, and protein was first clearly evident in the labeling period 15 to 20 hr after infection, soon after initiation of agent multiplication. The rates of synthesis of agent DNA, RNA, and protein increased logarithmically for a brief period and then declined. However, rates of isotope incorporation into all three meningopneumonitis macromolecules were sustained at near maximal values throughout the remainder of the meningopneumonitis growth cycle. These data are most readily interpreted in terms of multiplication of the meningopneumonitis agent by binary fission. The L cell response to infection was a decreased rate of DNA and RNA synthesis and an accelerated rate of cell death. Host protein synthesis was unaffected. The inhibition of nucleic acid synthesis in infected L cells probably involved competition between host and parasite for nucleic acid precursors. Different sublines of L cells varied greatly in the degree to which their nucleic acid-synthesizing mechanisms were damaged by infection. The cytoplasm of infected L cells contained newly synthesized DNA and RNA that could not be accounted for as intact meningopneumonitis cells. This nucleic acid probably arose from disintegration of the fragile intracellular forms of the meningopneumonitis agent.