Behavior In Vitro of a Mouse Lymphoid-Leukemia Virus

Abstract

Maintenance of the Moloney murine leukemia virus in serial passage in vitro has been established. With the techniques for culture described, replication of the agent occurred in cultures of normal mouse spleen without evidence of gross cytopathic changes. The induction of leukemia in mice served to demonstrate the infectivity of tissue-culture fluids. Infected cultures continued to produce virus for extended periods without subculture. When there was an interval of 2 or more weeks between passages in normal mouse-spleen cultures, the leukemia agent could be propagated in continuous passage in vitro.