Formation of infectious progeny virus after insertion of herpes simplex thymidine kinase gene into DNA of an avian retrovirus.

We have prepared several infectious stocks of an avian retrovirus, spleen necrosis virus, containing the herpes simplex virus type 1 thymidine kinase (tk) gene. The viruses were produced after cotransfection of chicken cells with DNA from recombinants between cloned spleen necrosis virus and tk DNAs and DNA of cloned reticuloendotheliosis virus strain A. removal of sequences in the tk gene for the end of tk mRNA increased a thousand fold the yield of infectious recombinant virus. Infection of chicken or rat tk- cells with the recombinant virus transformed them to a tk+ phenotype.