The incorporation of radioactive phosphate into feline pneumonitis virus in the chick embryo yolk sac.

Abstract

that the energy for the synthesis of feline pneumonitis virus in chick embryo yolk sac is supplied by the aerobic oxidation of endogenous substrates and the concomitant production of organic acidsoluble phosphate esters. Infected yolk sacs, during the 24 hours just preceding the death of the embryos, incorporate phosphorus into their desoxypentose nucleic acid (DNA) fraction much more rapidly than do uninfected yolk sacs. The infection may also cause an increase in the rate of incorporation of phosphorus into pentose nucleic acid (PNA). This investigation was made to clarify the mode of feline pneumonitis virus reproduction. Virus purified from infected yolk sacs labeled with radioactive phosphorus (P32) was fractionated and compared with the yolk sac pool from which it was prepared. Both DNA and PNA appear to be integral components of the virus, and the nucleic acids of the purified virus have higher specific activities than any chemical fraction of the yolk sac pool from which the virus is isolated.