INDUCTION OF INCREASED VENEZUELAN EQUINE ENCEPHALOMYELITIS VIRUS SYNTHESIS IN CHRONICALLY INFECTED L CELLS

Abstract

This report describes a culture of L cells that has been chronically infected with Venezuelan equine encephalomyelitis virus for 9 months. A typical culture was characterized by, 0.03% of the L cells possessing infectious virus, in contrast to 90-100% of infected normal cells, and by the ability to show a cytopatho-genic effect and produce 100-1000 times more virus after treatment with either glutamine deficient media or UV irradiation and by a resistance to superinfection with homologous virus. These results indicate that there are similarities between the state of the chronically infected cultures and lysogeny in bacteria.