Inhibition of ribonucleic acid methylation in the foot-and-mouth disease virus-infected host cell

Abstract

Inhibition of baby hamster kidney (BHK) host cell protein and RNA synthesis following infection with foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) has been described (Brown et al. , 1966; Polatnick et al. , in press). Foot-and-mouth disease virus (type A, strain 119) infection causes a more drastic inhibition of host cell protein synthesis than of RNA synthesis throughout the infectious cycle. For example, early in infection (90 min postinfection [PI]), and at peak virus production (300 min PI), protein synthesis is inhibited approximately 50 and 80%, respectively, while RNA synthesis is inhibited only 20 and 50% (Polatnick et al. , in press). In this report, the effect of FMDV infection on host cell RNA methylation is examined at 300 min PI. Methylation of total host cell RNA, fractionated 1 M NaCl insoluble RNA and sRNA is shown to be inhibited to the same degree as host cell protein synthesis in the FMDV infected cell.