Detection of proviral DNA in horse cells infected with equine infectious anemia virus

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Abstract
Equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) recently was shown to possess a high MW RNA genome and a virion reverse transcriptase. EIAV is demonstrated to be a retrovirus by the presence of proviral DNA in equine cells infected in vitro, but not in normal horse DNA. These studies were performed by using a highly representative c[complementary]DNA probe synthesized by the virion polymerase. This cDNA reassociated extensively, and with high thermal stability, with either viral RNA or DNA extracted from infected cells, but showed no detectable reassociation with DNA from uninfected horse cells. Similarly, sequences related to EIAV were neither found in the DNA of 4 other Equus spp., nor in a variety of other mammals including sheep, cows, pigs, dogs, cats and humans; nor did EIAV cDNA hybridize with a variety of other retrovirus RNA. These experiments were performed under conditions of very low stringency to enable detection of distantly related sequences, with a sufficient ratio of DNA to cDNA to allow detection of less than 1 viral copy/haploid genome. EIAV is apparently not an endogenous virus of the horse or of the other species tested.