Studies on the replication of reticuloendotheliosis virus: detection of viral-specific DNA sequences in infected chick cells.

Infection of stationary chick embryo fibroblasts by reticuloendotheliosis virus (REV) is sensitive to cytosine arabinoside, an inhibitor of DNA synthesis. Furthermore, the majority of the nucleic acid sequences contained in the REV genome can be detected in infected cells in the form of DNA by RNA-DNA hybridization techniques. A small portion (ca. 5%) of the REV-specific sequences can be detected in uninfected chick embryo fibroblasts suggesting that these cells contain at least part of the REV genome as endogenous DNA sequences. These observations are consistent with an involvement of REV-specific proviral DNA as an intermediate in the replication of REV in chick embryo fibroblasts.