Size and stability of the Epstein-Barr virus major internal repeat (IR-1) in Burkitt's lymphoma and lymphoblastoid cell lines.

We have used field inversion gel electrophoresis to survey EBV strains for the size of the major internal repeat, IR-1, and estimate the number of 3.1-kb repeat units present. The B95-8 strain of EBV was estimated to contain 8.6 repeats. The repeat number varies considerably among naturally occurring isolates around a mean of six repeats. Some cell lines harbored multiple viral genomes with differing numbers of repeats and our results suggest that the repeat number in IR-1 is more likely to change during lytic replication than during latency. The Jijoye strain had 6.6 repeats and the Jijoye deletion mutant clone P3HR-1 retained 5.9 repeats setting the size of the P3HR-1 deletion at 6.8 kb. Thus, the nonimmortalizing mutant has retained all of the W1 and W2 exons of the immortalizing parent and has lost only the 3' unique exons of EBNA4 and all of EBNA2.