Effects of Canavanine Treatment on Herpesvirus Morphogenesis in Cultured Cells

Abstract

L-Canavanine, a naturally occurring analog of arginine, effectively inhibited the morphogenesis of herpes simplex virus (HSV) and human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) when added at the time of infection, but allowed the expression of several cytopathic changes. Exposure to canavanine at progressively later times ultimately led to qualitatively normal virion maturation. Under no conditions were morphologically aberrant viral particles observed. However, HSV-infected cells treated at 3 h postinfection or later did contain distinctive cytoplasmic inclusions resembling HCMV dense bodies. Recovery experiments showed that HCMV-infected cells exposed to canavanine for 1–5 days could support normal viral morphogenesis when washed free of this agent.

Replication of human cytomegalovirus in a rhabdomyosarcoma cell line depends on the state of differentiation of the cells

“…To assess the number of infected cells, infectious center assay was performed as described elsewhere [15]. For ultrastructural analysis of infected cultures, cells were pelleted, and fixed by standard methods [21]. The samples were dehydrated and embedded in Durupan-Epon.…”

Human cytomegalovirus: demonstration of permissive epithelial cells and nonpermissive fibroblastic cells in a survey of human cell lines

“…MRC-5 (passage 18, ATCC CCL 171) is a fibroblastic cell line that has a normal diploid karyotype and was derived from male embryonic lung (9). These cells, which are known to be permissive for HCMV (17), served as positive controls. WI-38 VA13 subline 2RA (passage 263, ATCC CCL 75.1) is a hyperdiploid, continuous epithelial cell line (stem-line chromosome number, 73 to 78) that was derived by simian virus 40 transformation of the HCMV-permissive fibroblast cell line WI-38.…”