Polysomes and protein synthesis in cells infected with a DNA virus

Abstract

In HEp-2 cells infected with herpes simplex virus the rate of protein synthesis at first decline, is stimulated between 4 and 8 hours after infection, and progressively and irreversibly declines from 9 to 16 hours later. The increase and decrease in rates coincide with corresponding changes in the amounts of cytoplasmic polysomes and amounts of labeled amino acids in nascent peptides bound to polysomes. The data indicate that (i) early and late inhibition and intervening stimulation of protein synthesis are due to the corresponding breakdown and formation of polysomes, and (ii) the bulk of viral proteins is probably made on cytoplasmic polysomes.