Abstract
Guanidine at 10-3 [image] inhbits poliovirus-infectious RNA synthesis and virus-induced RNA base ratio alterations but does not greatly inhibit normal cell RNA synthesis. When guanidine was added to HeLa cells several hours after poliovirus infection in order to inhibit virus-directed RNA synthesis, host cell-directed RNA synthesis was drastically inhibited. It is suggested that this inhibition of host RNA synthesis may be the chief reason for the rapid cell destruction caused by poliovirus infection.