(12) supplemented with 10% (vol/ vol) tryptose phosphate broth (Difco) and 5% heated calf serum. In secondary and later passages of C/E cells, 5% calf serum was sometimes replaced by 5% fetal calf serum. Medium for virus-transformed cultures was supplemented with 1% dimethyl sulfoxide.The presence of the chf gene in chicken cell lines used in this study was assessed by the ability to complement noninfectious Bryan sarcoma virus [BH-RSV(-), in which the helper virus that provides envelope glycoprotein is given in parentheses] released by quail 16Q cells (13). In this assay 10616Q cells were cocultivated with 106 test cells, and 4 days later 5 ml of culture medium was filtered and assayed for infectious pseudotypes in T/B,D turkey cells. In positive assays 20-200 foci of transformed cells formed within 9-12 days, whereas no foci formed under the same conditions in negative assays.Viruses. SR-D no. 304 and its transformation-defective (td) derivative no. 300 were isolated after transfection of a focuscloned SR-D as described (14). These viruses were grown in Brown Leghorn chf + cells and crude stocks contained, therefore, envE recombinants belonging to subgroup E avian tumor viruses, as indicated by the superscript E. To remove these recombinants SR-D was cloned by triansfection in C/E chfchicken cells, using the DNA purified from SR-D-transformed chf + cells. In this proviral-DNA-cloning procedure the DNA was serially diluted and the virus was isolated from a culture transfected at the end-point dilution of the DNA, thus with all probability generated from the provirus(es) expressed in one transfected cell.Cloned SR-D was multiplied in C/E chf-cells grown in Corning 490-cm2 plastic roller bottles. Culture medium was harvested twice a day for several days, centrifuged at 10,000 X g and 4°C for 15 min, and stored at -700 C.