NUCLEOSOMAL STRUCTURE OF MAREKS-DISEASE VIRUS GENOME IN TRANSFORMED LYMPHOBLASTOID CELL-LINES, MDCC-MSB1 AND MDCC-RP1

The latent MDV (Marek's disease virus) genomes are folded into nucleosomal structures in both virus-productive and -nonproductive lymphoblastoid cell lines, MDCC-MSB1 (MSB-1) and -RP1 (RP-1), respectively. There was no difference between transcriptionally active and inactive regions of MDV genome with regard to nucleosomal patterns. In order to investigate whether nucleosomal structure is correlated with the repression of the transcription of MDV genome in lymphoblastoid cells, we examined the DNaseI sensitivity of nucleosomal MDV DNA in lymphoblastoid cell lines, MSB-1 and RP-1. No difference in the DNaseI sensitivity between transcriptionally active and inactive MDV DNA regions in lymphoblastoid cells was observed.