Degradation of pseudoviral DNA after infection of mouse cells with polyoma pseudovirions.

When mouse cells are infected with [(3)H]-thymidine-labeled polyoma pseudovirions, as much as 11% of the input pseudoviral radioactivity is found in the recipient cell DNA. However, the radioactivity found in the recipient cell DNA virtually disappears when nonradioactive thymidine and deoxycytidine, or D-arabinosyl cytosine, are added to the medium. The radioactivity found in the recipient cell DNA appears to be the result of the breakdown of pseudoviral DNA to precursors of DNA and the utilization of these precursors for the synthesis of cell DNA.