Transmissible retrovirus in Epstein-Barr virus-producer B95-8 cells

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) released from the B95-8 marmoset cell line has served as a prototype for biologic and biochemical studies of EBV. Here we identify and characterize a retrovirus carried by many cultures of B95-8 cells. The experiments were stimulated by the isolation of a cDNA clone from B95-8 cells in which sequences from the EBV large internal repeat were linked to gag sequences similar to those of squirrel monkey retrovirus, human isolate, SMRV-H. However, among 413 amino acids predicted from the nucleotide sequence of the gag region of the B95-8 SMRV isolate there were 48 amino acid changes that distinguished this virus from SMRV-H originally isolated from a human lymphoid cell line by Oda et al. (1988, Virology 167, 468-476). Nucleic acid and antibody probes were developed for the B95-8 isolate of SMRV. Using such probes, we found that SMRV-B95-8 was readily transmissible, independent of EBV, as an infectious virus to human B and T cell lines. SMRV-B95-8 was highly fusogenic in the presence or absence of EBV. The ultrastructural appearance of the B95-8 retrovirus was characteristic of a type D retrovirus. Cells dually infected with EBV and SMRV-B95-8 did not demonstrate increased levels of lytic EB viral replication. SMRV-B95-8 did not by itself cause lymphocyte immortalization or enhance immortalization by EBV. Thus SMRV-B95-8 does not contribute to the major biologic properties of the B95-8 strain of EBV.