Quantitative and qualitative differences in DNA complementary to avian myeloblastosis virus between normal and leukemic chicken cells.

Hybridization of avian myeloblastosis virus (AMV) RNA with DNA immobilized on filters or in liquid with a vast DNA excess was used to measure the viral specific DNA sequences in chicken cells. Newly synthesized viral DNA (v-DNA) appears within an hour after infection of chicken embryo fibroblasts (CEF) with avian oncornaviruses. A fraction of newly synthesized v-DNA becomes integrated into the cellular genome and the remainder gradually disappears. A covalent linkage between v-DNA and cellular DNA was demonstrated to exist in CEF and in leukemic myeloblasts by alkaline sucrose velocity sedimentation. Hybridization of AMV RNA in DNA excess has revealed that there are 2 clases of viral specific sequences within normal as well as in leukemic cells. The 2 types of sequences differ in their rate of hybridization. The amount of both types of DNA sequences is about 2 times higher in leukemic cells than in normal cells. Both the fast- and slowly reacting sequences in leukemic cells exhibit a higher Tm (2 degrees C) than the respective DNA sequences in normal cells. Furthermore, when nucleotide sequences in AMV RNA complementary to normal DNA are removed first by exhaustive hybridization with normal DNA, the residual RNA only hybridizes with leukemic DNA but not with normal DNA. These results suggest that leukemic cells contain viral specific DNA sequences which are absent in normal cells. Endogenous v-DNA has been shown to be integrated in cellular DNA region(s) with a reiteration frequency of approximately 1,200 copies per cell and each integration unit appears to have a size approximately equivalent to the 35S RNA subunit of the viral genome. Viral sequences acquired after infection appear to be integrated in the unique region of cell DNA, or in tandem with the endogenous viral sequences.