Length of Epstein-Barr virus termini as a determinant of epithelial cell clonal emergence.

Reiterated terminal sequences of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) DNA are numerically heterogeneous among infectious virions, providing a viral measure of clonality in infected cells. After in vitro infection, carcinoma cells bearing EBV episomes with fewer terminal repeats (TRs) proliferated faster. In single-cell clones, TR number varied inversely to the quantity of latent membrane protein 2A (LMP2A) transcripts whose unspliced precursors cross joined TRs. Thus, EBV clonality may reflect selection for a TR number that optimizes LMP2A-enhanced tumor progression, with infection occurring after epithelial cell transformation.