Effect of p-fluorophenylalanine of psittacosis virus in tissue cultures.

Tanami, Yoh (University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston) and Morris Pollard. Effect of p-fluorophenylalanine on psittacosis virus in tissue cultures. J. Bacteriol. 83:437-442. 1962.-The inhibitory effect of p-fluorophenylalanine (FPA) on maturation of psittacosis virus was investigated, with attention to the time sequence of viral protein synthesis. Extracellular virus particles were not inactivated by FPA at a concentration of 100 mug per ml, at which level it interfered with maturation of intracellular virus. When FPA was added to infected tissue cultures earlier than 15 hr after infection, intracellular virus maturation was suppressed. However, when FPA was added after 15 hr, infective virus was produced, which indicates that the synthesis of a FPA-sensitive virus precursor (presumably viral protein) had already occurred. A latent ("dormant") infection of psittacosis virus, established in a medium deficient in phenylalanine and tyrosine, was also investigated.