Coordinate control of collagen synthesis and cell growth in chick embryo fibroblasts and the effect of viral transformation on collagen synthesis.

Using collagenase digestion as an assay for collagen in partially synchronized secondary cultures of chick embryo fibroblasts, we find that the rate of collagen synthesis remains at a constant fraction of overall protein synthesis (5%) regardless of the growth rate of the cells even when the rate of protein synthesis is accelerated 5-fold by adding serum and altering the pH of the culture medium. However, in cells oncogenically transformed by Rous sarcoma virus, the relative rate of collagen synthesis was decreased by 50% 24 hours after infection and was 10% of the initial rate after 5 days. This selective decrease in rate of collagen synthesis could be reversed in cells infected with an RSV temperature-sensitive transformation-defective mutant at the non-permissive temperature, indicating that the decrease in the rate of collagen synthesis was not merely the result of viral infection but was a direct consequence of oncogenic transformation.