Integration of proviral DNA in Kirsten murine sarcoma virus-infected mouse fibroblasts.

The structure and sites of integration of proviral DNA were studied in 19 clonally related Kirsten murine sarcoma virus-transformed non-producer NIH/3T3 cell lines. The majority of these cell lines contained a single provirus, inserted colinearly with respect to unintegrated linear viral DNA, and lacking detectable methylation at MspI/HpaII sites. Although all proviruses were located at distinct integration sites in the host cell genome, the possible existence of similarities between some adjacent host flanking sequences, suggested from restriction mapping data, could not be ruled out. In three phenotypically reverted cell lines no change in either proviral DNA or adjacent host flanking sequences was detectable. In addition, the revertant proviruses lacked detectable methylation at MspI/HpaII sites. These findings suggest that changes in cellular function(s) may be responsible for loss of transformed phenotype in these cells.