Simian virus 40 DNA segment of the adenovirus 7-simian virus 40 hybrid, e46, and its transcription during permissive infection of monkey kidney cells.

Nucleic acid hybridization methodology has been used to investigate the span of the simian virus 40 (SV40) DNA segment in the adenovirus 7-SV40 hybrid, E46(+), and the extent of its transcription in lytically infected monkey kidney cells. The SV40 segment of E46(+) comprises approximately 62% of the SV40 genome; it originates in the proximal region of Hin-G (the G fragment derived by cleavage of intact SV40 DNA with Haemophilus influenzae restriction endonuclease), extends sequentially through approximately 80% of this fragment, all of fragments Hin-B, -I, -H, and -A, and terminates approximately 70% of the distance through Hin-C. During E46(+) lytic infection of permissive cells, the vast majority of stable cytoplasmic SV40-specific RNA is transcribed from the minus (E) strand of the fragments Hin-A, -H, -I, and -B, comprising the early template region. Transcripts of the minus strand of the Hin-G and -C fragments are detected in much lower concentrations, especially in the total lytic cellular RNA, whereas RNA complementary to the plus (L) strand is not detected. The transcriptional pattern of the SV40 segment within E46(+) is thus very similar to that in a number of transformed cell lines and in some respects to the transcriptional pattern in a series of nondefective adenovirus 2-SV40 hybrid viruses. These results suggest a common transcriptional mechanism for integrated SV40 DNA.