Isolation of a papovavirus with a bipartite genome containing unlinked SV40 and BKV sequences

Wild-type (wt) BK virus was introduced into permissive BSC-1 cells along with either early or late defective SV40 genomes. The defectives contained all of the late (L-SV40) or all of the early (E-SV40) coding sequences. Persistently infected (PI) BSC-1 cultures were established and contained wt BKV DNA and E- or L-SV40 DNA in Hirt supernatants. Each of the BKV/SV40 combinations could be serially passed in BSC-1 cells. Also, DNase I digestion of virus stocks from BKV/E-SV40 infections did not eliminate E-SV40. This suggested that (1) E-SV40 genomes could be packaged in BKV capsids and (2) BKV T antigen acted to stimulate the growth of L-SV40 genomes. During continuous culture of PI BSC-1 cells containing BKV and L-SV40, wt BKV genomes were lost and replaced by a BKV defective. The BKV defective (E-BKV) contained a deletion in the late region, an intact early region, and a duplication of the origin. This combination represents a new papovavirus with a bipartite genome in which the early region is derived from BKV and the late region from SV40, and both are present in separate molecules. The BKV and SV40 defectives complement each other for infectivity. Infectious virus is formed with the E-BKV genomes packaged in SV40 capsids. It is hypothesized that this kind of recombination (reassortment) is a way in which papovaviruses may generate variation. The host range for the new BKV/SV40 is narrow. It propagates well in BSC-1 cells, relatively poorly in fetal human brain cells, and not at all in green monkey TC-7 or human embryonic kidney cells. However, it transforms fetal human brain cells at a frequency 25-50 times greater than wt BKV does.