Efficient expression of an Epstein-Barr nuclear antigen in Drosophila cells transfected with Epstein-Barr virus DNA.

In a search for exogenous promoters which function in cultured Drosophila cells, we have co-transfected a D. melanogaster cell line with an Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) cosmid clone which encodes the Epstein-Barr nuclear antigen (EBNA-1). Here we report that Drosophila cells containing stably integrated copies of EBNA-1 encoding DNA synthesise a polypeptide of mol. wt. identical to that of authentic EBNA-1, which is detectable with EBNA-positive but not EBNA-negative human serum. As in EBV-transformed lymphoblastoid cells, this neo-antigen is associated with the nucleus of transfected cells suggesting that cellular localisation signals which operate in mammalian cells are also recognised in insect cells.