Stable line of turkey bone marrow cells transformed by the myelocytomatosis virus strain MC31

A stable bone marrow-derived cell line LSTC-SF2, producing transforming avian acute leukaemia virus, was established. The cell line has been maintained in culture for over 4 years, and 450 passages can be frozen and easily recovered in viable form. The cells grow rapidly in monolayers with multilayer clumps, have low serum requirements, display specific morphology, form colonies in semisolid medium and release transforming MC31 virus. A helper virus was also detected by the reverse transcriptase assay.