Infectious viral DNA of murine leukemia virus

Authors :: David Smotkin
Robert A. Weinberg
Alessandro M. Gianni
Shmuel Rozenblatt
Source :: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 72:4910-4913
Publication Year :: 1975
Publisher :: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 1975.
Abstract: A fraction of the unintegrated viral DNA that appears early after infection of mouse cells by Moloney leukemia virus is infectious. The infectivity could be deomonstrated by an XC plaque assay of the cells exposed to DNA co-precipitated with calcium phosphate. The number of plaques deriving from closed-circular, supercoiled DNA was proportional to the concentration of added DNA, indicating that a single DNA molecule of about 5.5 X 10(6) daltons carries all the viral information. Nonsupercoiled viral DNA is also infectious; these molecules appear to be largely double-stranded and 5 to 6 X 10(6) dalthons in mass.