High molecular weight virus DNA in KB cells infected with ts mutants of adenovirus type 2 under permissive and non-permissive conditions.

Temperature-sensitive (ts) mutants of adenovirus type 2 (Ad2), which are deficient in virus DNA synthesis at the non-permissive temperature, have been used to investigate whether virus DNA replication is required for the occurrence of high mol. wt. Ad2 DNA (greater than 100S, 50 to 90S) in human cells productively infected with Ad2. The high mol. wt. virus DNA has been previously shown to consist of virus and cellular DNA molecules covalently linked. The present data indicate that after infection with DNA-ts mutants, the production of high mol.wt. virus DNA is much less sensitive to restrictive conditions than the synthesis of unit length (34S) Ad2 DNA. This finding lends further support to the idea that the occurrence of high mol. wt. virus DNA is independent of the synthesis of unit length virus DNA.