Specificity of the antiviral agent calcium elenolate.

Calcium elenolate, an antiviral agent which inhibits reverse transcriptases, inhibits the growth of chicken embryo fibroblast cells, as well as Echerichia coli and Bacillus subtilis strains. The drug in vitro inhibits E. coli deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) polymerase II and DNA polymerase III holoenzyme, as well as several unrelated enzymes. The usual DNA polymerase assay components, with the exception of spermidine, have no effect on the observed inhibition. Inhibition of DNA polymerase II by the drug appears to be due to a direct and irreversible effect on the enzyme. However, DNA synthesis in E. coli is no more susceptible to the drug than is the increase in cell mass. These results suggest that calcium elenolate is an inhibitor of rather low specificity.