CURTAILMENT OF THE LATENT PERIOD BY DOUBLE-INFECTION WITH POLIOVIRUSES

The events taking place during the latent period of small RNA-containing animal viruses have been the subject of several recent investigations. It has been shown that infection with Mengovirus and poliovirus causes the inhibition of cellular RNA as well as protein synthesis within the first 2 hr.'-9 The appearance of a new viral RNA polymerase and its increasing activity with time has also been demonstrated.'0-'2 These mechanisms imply the involvement of newly formed proteins since they can be prevented by inhibition of protein synthesis.9' 13-15 Although the virus undoubtedly initiates the synthesis of these proteins, nothing is known about their virus specificity. The present study deals with the question 9-0 of whether the prior infection of a cell with one virus can shorten the latent period of a 1Con subsequently infecting second virus (timed