Nucleosomal structure of Epstein-Barr virus DNA in transformed cell lines

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Micrococcal nuclease digestion was used to analyze Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) DNA structure in nuclei of transformed cells. Digests of virus-producing (P3HR-1), non-virus-producing (Raji) and superinfected Raji [human bone barrow derived lymphoblastoid] cell nuclei were fractionated by electrophoresis on agarose gels, transferred to nitrocellulose and hybridized to 32P-labeled EBV DNA. The viral DNA of Raji nuclei produced a series of bands on electrophoresis whose lengths were integral multiples of a unit size, which was the same as the repeat length of host DNA. Viral DNA in nuclei of P3HR-1 and superinfected Raji cells produced faintly visible bands superimposed on a smear of viral DNA which dominated the hybridization pattern. No differences were detected in the patterns when total DNA digests from Raji, P3HR-1 and an EBV DNA-negative cell line (U-698M) were analyzed by ethidium bromide staining or by hybridization with the use of 32P-labeled lymphoblastoid cell DNA as probe. Apparently the EBV episomal DNA of Raji cells is folded into nucelosomes, whereas most of the viral DNA of P3HR-1 and superinfected Raji cells is not. This pattern of DNA organization differs significantly from that in papova group viruses.