Presence of chicken cell surface antigen on Rous virus activated in heterokaryons of transformed non-permissive hamster cells and chicken cells.

Incubation with antiserum to chick embryo (CE) cells, in the presence of complement, inactivates Rous sarcoma virus (RSV) produced by heterokaryons formed by non-permissive RSV-transformed hamster cells and CE cells as well as RSV produced by heterokaryons is observed following incubation with antiserum to the transformed hamster cells, plus complement. Hence, the envelope of RSV activated in heterokaryons, as that of RSV produced by CE cells, must contain a surface antigen of the CE cell, and the virus must mature only, or preferentially, at chicken-specific sites of the heterokaryon surface.