Effects of polyadenylic acids on functions of murine RNA tumor viruses

Single-stranded polyribonucleotides, which competitively inhibit murine RNA tumor virus reverse transcriptase in vitro, were tested as inhibitors of various virus functions in cell culture. The compounds had two concentration-dependent effects. At high concentrations (100 mug/ml), both poly(adenylic acid) [poly(A)] and poly(2'-O-methyladenylic acid) [poly(Am)] inhibited the uptake of radioactively labeled leukemia virus by Swiss mouse embryo cells, but neither had a similar effect on Sindbis virus adsorption. At low concentrations (10 mug/ml), poly(Am) did not inhibit the uptake of leukemia virus but did inhibit virus replication by 85%; in contrast, the replication of Sendai virus and Sindbis virus was not inhibited significantly at this concentration. Both compounds were effective only when added prior to or early during virus infection. Poly(Am) was a much more effective inhibitor than poly(A), probably due to the nuclease resistance of the former compound. Poly(Am) at 5 mug/ml also inhibited transformation of 3T3 cells by Moloney sarcoma virus. However, neither poly(A) nor poly(Am) at high concentrations inhibited the activation of endogenous leukemia virus by iododeoxyuridine in AKR mouse embryo cells. These results suggest that virus reverse transcriptase plays an essential role in both the replication of exogenous murine leukemia viruses and the transformation of cells by murine sarcoma viruses but probably has no role in the activation of endogenous leukemia virus.