Abstract
In RHF-1 cells infected with either adenovirus 2 or 12, the formation of infectious virus and antigens decreased with each successive passage of cells until the virus was ultimately eliminated from the cultures. These cultures then emerged into a new phase in which some virus-induced proteins were present in at least a small proportion of cells. Adenovirus 2 fibre antigen persisted throughout the 15th subculture, whereas adenovirus 12 early (T) and late (fibre) antigens were carried throughout the 30th subculture over a period of 600 days. Virus-free but antigen-containing cells may therefore have possessed at least a portion of the virus genome. Shortly after the disappearance of virus, distinct multilayered foci of cells emerged in both lines. This phenomenon became a characteristic feature of the cultures only in the adenovirus 12 line.
* Present address: National Institute for Medical Research, Division of Virology, Mill Hill, London, N.W.7.