Summary
Chick embryo cells transformed by Rous sarcoma virus (RSV) continue to synthesize 40–50 percent of control amounts of RNA following 12–24 hour exposure to 2 µg/ml of the toxin whereas normal chick embryo cells similarly treated synthesize less than 5 percent of control amounts of RNA. Analysis of cells treated with α-amanitin after infection with RSV indicates that resistance to the toxin appears within the first 24 hours after infection. Levels of DNA-dependent RNA polymerase form II, the nucleoplasmic RNA polymerase most susceptible to inhibition by α-amanitin, or the resistant forms I and III polymerase, do not increase in infected cells over the levels found in uninfected control cells during the first 24 hours following infection indicating that increase in polymerase levels in infected cells does not account for the observed resistance. No significant difference was detected in the sensitivity to α-amanitin of the form II polymerase isolated from normal and transformed cells.
The greater sensitivity of normal cells to α-amanitin can be reduced by growing the cells at low cell density but the resistance of RSV transformed cells is not significantly altered by changes in cell density. The results suggest that the resistance of RSV transformed cells may be related to altered control of density dependent contact-inhibition of the transformed cells.
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Dinowitz, M., Lindell, T.J. & O'Malley, A. Altered sensitivity of Rous sarcoma virus transformed cells to inhibition of RNA synthesis by α-amanitin. Archives of Virology 53, 109–119 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01314852
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01314852