Effect of aphidicolin on the elongation step of adenovirus DNA replication in vitro.

Adenovirus DNA synthesis carried out in vitro was inhibited by the aphidicolin. However, 30% of the DNA synthesis was resistant to aphidicolin even at a concentration of 200 micrograms/ml. When the distribution patterns of the radioactivity of the products synthesized in the presence of 50 micrograms/ml of the drug was examined after HindIII digestion of the product DNA, the radioactivity appeared preferentially in the fragments mapping nearest to the ends of the molecule. Pulse-chase experiment showed that the terminal fragments were synthesized with or without aphidicolin but that in the presence of aphidicolin the rate of elongation rapidly slowed down beyond this region, suggesting that a DNA polymerase sensitive to aphidicolin may participate in the synthesis of the internal region of adenovirus DNA.