LIGHT RADIOAUTOGRAPHIC STUDY OF PROTEIN SYNTHESIS IN MIDGUT EPITHELIUM OF SILKWORM BOMBYX MORI INFECTED WITH A CYTOPLASMIC-POLYHEDROSIS VIRUS

The pattern of protein synthesis within the midgut epithelial cells of the silkworm, Bombyx mori, infected with a cytoplasmic-polyhedrosis virus was demonstrated by means of radioautography with tritiated amino acids as protein precursors. At the early stage of the virus infection, virogenic stromata containing large amounts of newly synthesized protein arose subapically in the cylindrical cells. In the second stage, polyhedra that were barely detectable appeared in the developing stromata. The labeled amino acids were clearly incorporated into the polyhedra that became increasingly loaded with the labeled protein as they continued to grow." Thus the virogenic stroma in the cytoplasm appears to be the site of continuous synthesis of the protein in the polyhedra. © 1968."