Loss of simian virus 40 DNA-RNA hybrids from nitrocellulose membranes; implications for the study of virus--host DNA interactions.

Complete hybrids of simian virus 40 (SV40)DNA and its complementary RNA (cRNA) are not retained on nitrocellulose membranes. At saturating cRNA concentrations, retention of the hybrids indicates incomplete homology between DNA and RNA, probably due to incorporation of host DNA in the viral DNA; this effect is most pronounced when DNA is produced in cells infected at high multiplicity. Hybrids between DNA of Chinese hamster cells transformed by SV40 and cRNA are retained if the DNA fragments are long, but they are lost if the DNA is sheared to less than the length of an SV40 DNA molecule. Hence, in cells examined with about six SV40 genomes per cell, each genome is individually integrated. The results may explain previous discrepancies in the estimation of the number of viral genomes in transformed cells.