Evidence for and localization of vegetative viral DNA replication by autoradiographic detection of RNA-DNA hybrids in sections of tumors induced by Shope papilloma virus.

The occurrence and localization of vegetative viral DNA replication was studied in sections of tumors induced by the rabbit Shope papilloma virus, in cottontail and domestic rabbit papillomas, in primary domestic rabbit carcinoma, and in transplantable VX2 carcinoma, by in situ hybridization of radioactive RNA complementary to viral DNA. Vegetative viral DNA replication and viral protein synthesis were compared by means of cytological hybridization and immunofluorescence techniques on adjacent frozen sections. Vegetative viral DNA replication is completely repressed in the proliferating cellular layers of these tumors, which suggests a provirus state of the viral genome, as in other cells transformed by oncogenic DNA viruses. Vegetative viral DNA replication is induced, after initiation of the keratinization, in cells of cottonail rabbit papillomas, where it is usually followed by viral protein synthesis; this illustrates the influence of the physiological state of the host cell on the control of viral functions. Vegetative viral DNA replication is deteced only in a few cells of domestic rabbit papillomas, at the end of the keratinization process; this observation provides indirect evidence that the DNA synthesis specifically induced in these tumors after the onset of keratinization reflects mostly the induction of cellular DNA synthesis.