Effect of Rifampicin on DNA-Dependent RNA Polymerase and on RNA Phage Growth

Abstract

An important question in the molecular biology of viruses is whether they utilize only the machinery of their host to synthesize macromolecules or if they specify their own enzymes. RNA phage genomes carry the information for at least a part of the viral replicase; phage mutants have been found altered in this enzyme (Lodish and Zinder, 1966). Recently, however, evidence has been produced indicating that the viral replicase can be dissociated into two components (Eikhom and Spiegelman, 1967) and that one of them can be found in uninfected cells (Eikhom et al., 1968). Since there is no evidence of RNA-dependent RNA synthesis in uninfected cells, this last result raises an intriguing question: what is the cellular function of the host-specified component?