Amplification of a tandem direct repeat within inverted repeats of Marek's disease virus DNA during serial in vitro passage

Abstract

DNA of the oncogenic strain BC-1 of Marek's disease virus contains three units of tandem direct repeats with 132 base pairs in the terminal repeat and internal repeat, respectively, of the long region of the Marek's disease virus genome, whereas the attenuated, nononcogenic viral DNA contains multiple units of the tandem direct repeats.