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Characterization of the Kilham Rat Virus

Laboratory of Biology of Viruses, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20014

ABSTRACT

Kilham rat virus (KRV) was found to grow in a rat nephroma cell line and to form plaques on secondary rat embryo monolayers. The virus was purified by enzymatic treatment and isopycnic cesium chloride sedimentation. KRV bands at a density of 1.41 g/cm³ in cesium chloride. It contains about 26.5% deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). The sedimentation coefficient S_20,w in sucrose gradients was 122 corresponding to a molecular weight of 6.6 x 10⁶ daltons. The reaction of formaldehyde with the KRV virion suggests that the DNA in situ is single-stranded. DNA extracted from KRV had a buoyant density of 1.715 g/cm³ in cesium chloride. The S_20,w was determined in sucrose gradients to be 16, and the molecular weight was calculated to be approximately 1.7 x 10⁶ daltons. The base composition of the DNA is 26.7% adenine, 30.8% thymine, 20.0% guanine, and 22.5% cytosine. On the basis of its noncomplementary nucleotide ratio, melting curve, and the reaction with formaldehyde, the DNA of KRV is believed to be single-stranded.