Failure of accumulation of cellular RNA in hamster cells stimulated to synthesize DNA by infection with adenovirus 2.

AF8 cells are temperature-sensitive mutants of the cell cycle derived from baby hamster kidney (BHK) cells which arrest in the G1 phase when incubated at the nonpermissive temperature. RNA accumulation was studied in these cells by flow cytofluorimetry following serum stimulation or adenovirus 2 infection. Serum stimulation caused an increase in the amount of RNA per cell, which reached a maximum in S and G2 cells, as repeatedly reported in the literature. However, adenovirus 2 infection caused a fraction of cells to enter S phase without any concomitant increase in the amount of RNA per cell.