Integration of bovine leukaemia virus in the ovine genome.

Circulating lymphocytes and tumour cells from 12 sheep experimentally infected with bovine leukaemia virus (BLV), for periods of time varying from 9 to 48 weeks, were analysed for evidence of integrated and unintegrated provirus. Hybridization analysis demonstrated that the provirus was integrated at one or two sites in all cases. Integration was observed at different sites in the animals studied and there was no evidence of unintegrated virus molecules in infected sheep lymphocytes or tumour cells. The data obtained support a monoclonal origin of different tumours in the same sheep.