Integration of bovine leukemia virus DNA in the bovine genome.

DNA preparations from circulating leukocytes, lymph node tumors, and spleens of three bovine leukemia virus-infected cattle were fractionated by Cs2SO4/3,6-bis(acetatomercurimethyl)dioxane density gradient centrifugation. Bovine leukemia virus proviral sequences were found in large GC-rich fragments having a buoyant density in CsCl close to 1.708 g/cm3. Provirus integration, therefore, does not take place at random locations in the host genome, but in a specific class of DNA segments. Hybridization of cDNA synthesized on viral RNA to EcoRI and Xba I restriction fragments of the DNA from infected cells showed that: (i) only one copy of proviral DNA is integrated per haploid genome; (ii) different restriction patterns were found in the proviral DNAs present in the genomes of different animals, providing evidence for the existence of several strains or mutants; and (iii) different integration sites for the proviral DNA were found in the genome of different animals and of different infected cells in the same animal. The latter finding strongly suggests a polyclonal origin of bovine leukemia virus-infected cells.