Simian immunodeficiency virus in kidney cell cultures from highly infectedrhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta)

Trace amounts of simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) proviral DNA were dete cted in monolayers of primary kidney cells from two rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) heavily infected with the highly pathogenic strain SIVmac251. The re was no detectable infectious SIV in the supernatant from the kidney cell cultures obtained from either monkey. However, infectious SIV was rescued by co-culture of kidney cells with a permissive lymphoid cell line. Macroph ages, present in these cultures, may be the reservoir for the proviral geno mes.