Persistent infection of cultivated cells with lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus: regulation of virus replication. Brief report.

L cells were infected with lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCM virus). They were subcultivated and infectious virus and interfering virus were quantified at intervals. Both entities fluctuated in perfect parallelism. Superinfection with LCM virus revealed a pattern of interference that bore no simple relationship with the quantity of interfering virus present. We explain the oscillating pattern of virus replication, which characterizes this type of LCM virus carrier cultures, as being due to spontaneous shutdown of virus synthesis in conjunction with the action of a resistance factor produced by cells coinfected with infectious virus and interfering virus.