C-Type Particles in Cultured Lymphocytes from Highly Leukemic Cattle

Abstract

Short-term cultivated buffy coat cells from highly leukemic cattle produced C-type particles. The C-type particles appeared to be very labile. They possessed knob-like structures on the outer envelope. On their core shell, identical subunits arranged in hexagonal symmetry were detected. After isopycnic centrifugation, the highest titers of the hemagglutination and the peak of the radioactivity after labeling with 3H-uridine coincided and were found at a density of 1.16–1.17 g/ml. In the immunodiffusion test, Tween-ether-treated antigen preparations formed identical precipitation lines with several sera from animals with different stages of bovine leukosis. Because of their properties, the particles can be classified as bovine oncornaviruses.