Recombinational joints in a simian virus 40 variant generated in a persistent infection.

SP1, a viable simian virus 40 (SV40) variant isolated from a persistent infection of rhesus monkey kidney cells, contains sequence rearrangements in the untranslated region of the SV40 genome which are transcribed into late mRNA leader sequences and in the region which encodes the large T antigen. Nucleotide sequences about the recombinational junctions in SP1 were determined. The sequence data show that in most instances there was not extensive homology between recombining sequences. The recombinant sequences are discussed with respect to the mechanisms by which they might have been generated.