ANALYSIS OF THE GENOME OF AN EPSTEIN-BARR-VIRUS (EBV)-RELATED HERPESVIRUS IN A CYNOMOLGUS MONKEY CELL-LINE (SI-IIA)

A simian cell line, Si-IIA, harboring Epstein-Barr-virus (EBV) -relate d herpesvirus (Si-IIA-EBV), produces malignant lymphoma in rabbits whe n administered by intravenous inoculation. In this study, we analyzed the Si-IIA-EBV genome and compared it with human EBV and herpesvirus m acaca fascicularis 1 (HVMF 1), which is associated with B-cell lymphom a developing in SIV-infected immunosuppressed monkeys. DNA from Si-IIA -EBV was amplified by the polymerase chain reaction using three differ ent primer pairs complementary to human EBV (B 95-8) DNA two of the pr imer pairs covered part of the long internal repeat 1 region (IR 1) an d the third covered part of the BRRF 1 region. Direct sequencing of th e three PCR products revealed that Si-IIA-EBV DNA had about 82% nucleo tide homology to the human EBV DNA in all three regions and 92.4% homo logy to HVMF 1 in the IR 1 region. The blotting pattern by Southern bl ot analysis was different between Si-IIA-EBV and human EBV.