Quantitation of bovine papilloma viral DNA in viral-induced tumors

Bovine papilloma virus (BPV) DNA was labeled in vitro under conditions of repair synthesis and subsequently used as a "probe" in DNA-DNA reassociation studies to detect BPV-specific DNA sequences in a viral-induced calf meningioma and hamster fibroma. In vitro labeled BPV DNA had denaturation characteristics expected for duplex DNA and denatured DNA reassociated with apparent second-order kinetics. Analysis of in vitro labeled BPV DNA reassociation rates in the presence of excess tumor DNA revealed that the calf meningioma contained approximately 700 to 800 BPV genome equivalents per diploid cell whereas the hamster fibroma contained about 150 incomplete BPV genome equivalents per diploid cell. Thermal denaturation of in vitro labeled BPV DNA which reassociated in the presence of the two tumor DNA preparations indicated less than 1.5% base pair mismatching.