Sites of sequence variability in Epstein-Barr virus DNA from different sources.

The intracellular Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) DNA present in virus-transformed cells was partly purified from 23 cell lines or biopsies of Burkitt lymphoma, nasopharyngeal carcinoma, infectious mononucleosis, or healthy carrier origin. Such DNA was cleaved in fragments (A-K) of molecular weights between 1 x 10(6) and 30 x 10(6) with restriction enzyme EcoRI, and these fragments were analyzed by standard methods involving agarose gel electrophoresis, transfer to nitrocellulose filters, and hybridization with radioactive EBV DNA or complementary RNA. Sequence variability among different EBV DNA isolates was largely confined to the A, C, and I fragments. These results are discussed in relation to the linkage map of the EcoRI fragments of EBV DNA. The EcoRI cleavage pattern of intracellular viral DNA of an EBV-like virus from baboon cells, Herpesvirus papio, was entirely different from that of human EBV isolates.