[Comparative study of variants of the Venezuelan equine encephalomyelitis virus isolated from chronically infected cells by transfection in different cells].

Comparative data with regard to the properties of Venezuelan equine encephalomyelitis (VEE) virus isolated from HeLa carrier cultures by transfection in different cell cultures have been obtained. Introduction of DNA extracted from the carrier cultures into BHK-21 cell cultures resulted in production of an actively multiplying medium-plaque virus, and parallel addition of the same DNA preparations in chick fibroblast or monkey kidney cultures led to production of small-plaque virus with a low reproduction potential. The virus produced by transfection of BHK-21 cells differed from that produced in chick fibroblast and monkey kidney cultures in electrophoretic mobility of virion envelope proteins. The infection of these cultures with virions as well as infection with genome RNA did not result in production of differing virus variants. The importance of the experimental genetic data for the problem of the nature of the infectious principle of cellular DNA preparations and of the form of existence of viral genome in chronically infected cultures with infection of the integrative type is discussed.