Relationship between Epstein-Barr virus genome number, amount of nuclear antigen, and early antigen inducibility in diploid and tetraploid lymphoma cells of related origin.

In a collection of near-diploid and near-tetraploid Raji sublines and somatic Raji/Raji hybrids a linear relationship was found between the number of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) genome copies and the relative amount of EBV-determined nuclear antigen per cell. Inducibility of the viral cycle by iododeoxyuridine and by P3HR-1 virus superinfection coulb be related to the number of resident EBV genome copies per haploid target cell. The implications of these findings are discussed.