Abstract
In a previous study the identification of a region(s) of the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) genome, which is associated with transformation, was attempted by marker rescue. A transforming EBV was rescued from D98/HR-1 hybrid cells, which contain the nontransforming HR-1 EBV genome, after transfection with specific BamHI and Charon 4A fragments (J. Stoerker and R. Glaser, Proc. Nat. Acad Sci. USA 80, 1726–1729, 1983). In this study, characterization of the EBV DNA in four human lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCL) transformed with rescued virus was performed. It was found that recombination between the transfected fragments, BamHI H,F,X and the Charon 4A fragment (EB-2636) which is equivalent to the BamHI H,F,X region, and the endogenous HR-1 EBV genome in the D98/HR-1 cells took place. This recombination resulted in the formation of transforming EBV. The EBV DNA in the four LCLs are similar to each other and to HR-1 EBV DNA. However, the EBV DNA in all four LCLs also contain the U2 region plus additional sequences of B95-8 DNA. The U2 region is deleted in HR-1 EBV DNA which :is associated with HR-1 cells and the D98/HR-1 hybrid cells. Thus, transforming activity of the HR-1-like viruses rescued from D98/HR-1 cells was concomitant with the recombination of the 0.26–0.36 region of the EBV genome, suggesting that this region is necessary for at least the initiation of transformation.
Published Version
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