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The Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) genome stably persists in latently infected Burkitt tumor cells and growth-transformed B lymphocytes. These cells usually contain multiple copies of episomal viral DNA. Cytological hybridization of recombinant viral DNA fragments to metaphase chromosomes of two latently infected cell lines demonstrates that viral DNA localizes to both chromatids of one homologue of chromosome 1 in Namalwa, a Burkitt tumor cell line, and to both chromatids of one homologue of chromosome 4 in IB4, a cell line with transformed growth properties in vitro. The site of chromosome association remains stable in a clone of IB4 cells. Probes from five separate regions of the EBV genome hybridize to the same chromosome regions. A previously undescribed achromatic site is identified within the region of EBV chromosome cytological hybridization. These observations suggest that most or all of the EBV genome is integrated into the chromosomal DNA of Namalwa and IB4 cells. Although the chromosomal sites of EBV DNA association are among those regions with homology to the EBV IR3 repeated DNA sequence, EBV IR3 did not mediate recombination between EBV and chromosomal DNA.
Henderson et al. (Fri,) studied this question.