Dimethyl sulfoxide affects the amount of extrachromosomal spleen focus-forming virus DNA in murine erythroleukemia cells.

We used Southern blot hybridization to titrate and map restriction enzyme cleavage sites of a 6.3-kilobase-pair species of extrachromosomal viral DNA found in derivatives of the 745A line of murine erythroleukemia cells, which vary in their ability to be induced to differentiate by dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). Greater than an eightfold variation was observed in the amount of this DNA, with the largest amounts being found in cells that were resistant to the induction of differentiation by DMSO. This increase in the level of extrachromosomal viral DNA was found to be dependent upon the continued presence of DMSO in the culture medium. The increase was shown not to be due to an immediate stimulatory effect of this agent on the synthesis or maintenance of this DNA, since cell lines sensitive to the differentiation-inducing effects of DMSO were shown to undergo a transient reduction in the amount of extrachromosomal viral DNA after the addition of DMSO to the culture medium. In addition to the 6.3-kilobase-pair linear form found in the cytoplasm, in some preparations two hybridizing bands were observed that migrated in agarose gels in the position expected of covalently closed circular species of viral DNA. Restriction enzyme mapping of the cytoplasmic linear form indicated a close relationship of this DNA to two polycythemic strains of spleen focus-forming virus that have been molecularly cloned by other workers. No obvious change in the number or arrangement of chromosomal viral sequences could be detected after treating cells with DMSO. Thus, the exposure of murine erythroleukemia cells to DMSO caused an obvious change in the amount of extrachromosomal spleen focus-forming virus DNA but no obvious change in the integration of the provirus.