Effect of input multiplicity on the establishment of simian virus 40 persistent infections in rhesus monkey kidney cells.

Monolayer cultures of LLC-MK2 rhesus monkey kidney cells become persistently infected with simian virus 40 after infection at input multiplicities of 100, 10, or 1 plaque-forming unit per cell. After 3 weeks, all cells of the cultures infected at a multiplicity of 1 plaque-forming unit per cell produced the simian virus 40 T antigen. In contrast, 8 to 11 weeks elapsed before all the cells in the cultures infected at a multiplicity of 100 plaque-forming units per cell produced T antigen. Defective interfering particles and interferon production were not evident during this time.