Summary
The development of varicella virus microplaques in human embryo lung fibroblasts and human thyroid cells was completely or almost completely inhibited by an arginine-metabolizing mycoplasma,M. arginini. On the other hand, the cytopathic effect of a rhinovirus was unaffected, and varicella virus microplaque formation was uninfluenced by two glucose-fermenting mycoplasmas. These facts, together with the observation that varicella virus microplaque formation was dependent on the presence of arginine in the cell cultures, suggested that depletion of arginine was responsible for the inhibition of microplaque development. However, the addition of arginine to both varicella virus- and herpes simplex virus-infected cultures only partially reversed the inhibitory effect of the mycoplasma. This indicates that other factors, in addition to arginine depletion, may be involved. The results clearly show that only those cultures which are free from arginine-metabolizing mycoplasmas are likely to be useful for isolating and studying varicella virus.
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Slack, P.M., Taylor-Robinson, D. The influence of mycoplasmas on the cytopathic effect of varicella virus. Archiv f Virusforschung 42, 88–95 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01250510
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01250510