Epstein-Barr virus DNA XII. A variable region of the Epstein-Barr virus genome is included in the P3HR-1 deletion

Abstract

The P3HR-1 subclone of human lymphoblastoid Jijoye differs from Jijoye and from other Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-infected cell lines in that the virus produced by P3HR-1 cultures lacks the ability to growth-transform normal B lymphocytes. The P3HR-1 virus is known to be deleted for a region which encodes RNA in latently infected, growth-transformed cells. This deletion is now more precisely defined. The P3HR-1 genome contains < 170 base pairs (and possibly none) of the 3300-base pair U2 region of EBV DNA and is also lacking IR2 (a 123-base pair repeat which is the right boundary of U2). EBV isolates vary in part of the U2 region. Two transforming EBV, AG876 and Jijoye, are deleted for part of the U2 region including most or all of a fragment, HinfI-c, which encodes part of 1 of the 3 more abundant cytoplasmic polyadenylated RNA of growth-transformed cells.