Identification of two types of naturally-occurring intertypic recombinants of Epstein-Barr virus.

Two Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) types, type 1 and type 2, maintain the same allelic specificity at four genomic loci encoding the EBNA2, -3A, -3B, and -3C proteins. We have previously described 16 EBV-transformed B-lymphoblastoid cell lines derived from Korean cancer patients, and the EBNA2 types of the EBV isolates therein. In this study, the allelic types of the EBNA2, -3A, -3B, and -3C genes of these EBV isolates were determined. We report the identification of two distinct types of naturally occurring intertypic recombinants, one with genotype EBNA2 type 1/EBN3A, -3B, -3C type 2 and the other with genotype EBNA2, -3A type 1/EBNA3B, -3C type 2. The existence of these intertypic recombinants indicates that various intertypic EBV strains may be circulating in the human population, in addition to typical EBV-1 and EBV-2 strains.