Expression of integrated Rous sarcoma viruses: DNA rearrangements 5' to the provirus are common in transformed rat cells but not seen in infected but untransformed cells.

The study of Rous sarcoma virus (RSV)-infected rat cell clones offers a novel approach to unravelling the mechanisms controlling eukaryotic gene expression. RSV-transformed rat cell clones frequently contain duplicated proviral sequences immediately upstream of an intact provirus. This category of proviral rearrangement is not seen in cells that remain untransformed after RSV infection nor in subsequently segregating transformants. These results suggest that such rearrangements occur during or soon after proviral integration, and that they may favour early proviral expression.