| Abstract: | Human, EBV-carrying lymphoblastoid lines show wide differences in their sensitivity to superinfection with EBV concentrates and also in their sensitivity to the activation of the resident viral genome by BUDR and IUDR. A significant correlation was found between sensitivity to superinfection and activation in 23 virus-receptor-positive lines. In 10 receptor-negative lines, there was no such correlation: they were resistant to superinfection since they could not adsorb the virus, but differed widely in their activatability. The findings suggest that the intracellular restrictive mechanism that limits superinfection in the receptor-positive, resistant lines, can also restrict the function of the activated genome, derived from within. Since some of the lines that were resistant to both superinfection and activation were spontaneous producers, however, it appears that the same mechanism does not necessarily affect the “spontaneous” function of the resident genome. |
