Pretreatment of a cloned rat embryo fibroblast (CREF) cell line with methyl methanesulfonate (MMS) prior to infection with a specific host-range and cold-sensitive type 5 adenovirus mutant (H5hr1), results in a unique carcinogen enhancement of transformation (CET) phenotype (Carcinogenesis 8:967, 1987). By using low-density clonal assays and in situ hybridization techniques with 32P-labeled type 5 adenovirus (Ad5) probes, we demonstrated that 5-10 d following infection the proportion of CREF colonies containing H5hr1 DNA and RNA is increased two- to threefold as a result of pretreatment with MMS. Twenty-five days following infection of CREF cells, Ad5 DNA assays showed that both solvent and MMS-pretreated CREF colonies no longer contained detectable levels of viral DNA or RNA. Analysis of free viral DNA by the Hirt procedure suggested that more free viral DNA persisted in MMS-pretreated H5hr1-infected CREF cells than in solvent-pretreated H5hr1-infected CREF cells. The relative amount of free viral DNA in both types of cultures was directly related to the multiplicity of H5hr1 infection and decreased with time following infection. As observed using in situ hybridization techniques, by 25 d after infection no free viral DNA was detected in either MMS- or solvent-pretreated H5hr1-infected CREF cells. By using a protein synthesis inhibitor (cycloheximide) and an RNA transcription inhibitor (actinomycin D), it was further demonstrated that the ability of MMS to induce a unique CET in CREF cells following infection with H5hr1 was dependent on the synthesis of new protein and RNA. In contrast, inhibition of protein and RNA synthesis did not alter the de novo rate of H5hr1 transformation of CREF cells. Temporal kinetic studies indicated that the ability of MMS to enhance H5hr1 transformation of CREF cells and to increase the percentage of CREF colonies containing Ad5 genetic information is regulated in a strict temporal manner. The results of the present investigation suggest that the ability of MMS to enhance H5hr1 transformation of CREF cells is dependent on the induction of new protein(s) in CREF cells, and enhancement is associated with an increase in the proportion of cells in the infected CREF cell population that initially contain Ad5 DNA/RNA.