Abstract
RIFAMPICIN1 inhibits the replication of vaccinia virus in infected cells in vitro when added at 100 µg/ml. immediately after infection3,4 or at a late stage of the virus latent period4. In the presence of the drug the translation of late viral mRNA spacies was found to be markedly inhibited 8 h after infection5; the rate of late viral protein synthesis declined6; the synthesis of the particulate viral RNA polymerase molecules, induced late in infection, was prevented7; and the assembly of virions was affected8,9. Rifampicin did not affect the synthesis of viral mRNA molecules nor their association with ribosomos to form polyribosomes5. The inability of rifampicin to inhibit in vitro the activity of the three different species of poxvirus specific DNA dependent RNA polymerases7 suggested that the mode of antiviral activity of rifampicin differed from its antimicrobial activity. The latter was attributed10 to the macrocyclic ring of the rifamycin SV molecule which binds to the microbial DNA dependent RNA polymerase and inhibits the initiation of RNA synthesis. Using Shope fibroma virus (SFV), a poxvirus which causes localized tumours in rabbits11–13, and several rifamycin SV derivatives, we have obtained results which indicate that the anti-poxvirus activity resides in the hydrazone side chain of rifampicin.
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ZAKAY-RONES, Z., BECKER, Y. Anti-poxvirus Activity of Rifampicin associated with Hydrazone Side Chain. Nature 226, 1162–1163 (1970). https://doi.org/10.1038/2261162a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/2261162a0
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