Loss of proviral DNA sequences in a revertant of Kirsten sarcoma virus-transformed murine fibroblasts.

A previously described revertant cell line (K-BALB SR1212), derived as a single cell clone from a clonal line of murine fibroblasts (K-BALB) transformed by a nonproductive infection with the Kirsten strain of murine sarcoma virus, has normal morphology and growth kinetics and, unlike the transformed parent cell line, lacks a sarcoma virus that can be rescued. We report here that this reversion correlates with low to undetectable levels of expression of cellular Ki-MSV-specific RNA and a reduction of proviral sequences in the cell DNA to a level equivalent to that found in the uninfected BALB cells with a normal phenotype. The data indicate that phenotypic reversion has occurred as a consequence of the loss of part or all of the sarcoma provirus, either by chromosomal rearrangement or provirus excision.