Presence of a high-molecular-weight RNA and RNA-directed DNA polymerase in rabbit hereditary lymphosarcoma.

Rabbit lymphosarcoma tissues contain 70 S RNA and RNA-directed DNA polymerase encapsulated in particulate components that band in the density region of type C RNA viruses. RNA-directed DNA polymerase associated with the particles could be distinguished from cellular DNA polymerases by salt elution from phosphocellulose. The enzyme preferred the template primers poly(rA)-(dT)12-18 and poly(rC)-(dG)12-18 over other synthetic template primers and also utilized viral 70 S RNA as template; these properties are not observed with the known cellular DNA polymerases.