Hamster-tropic sarcomagenic and nonsarcomagenic viruses derived from hamster tumors induced by the Gross pseudotype of Moloney sarcoma virus.

Hamster sarcomas induced by the Gross pseudotype of Moloney sarcoma virus yielded a virus sarcomagenic for hamsters but not mice. This virus was able to produce foci on hamster embryo cells, but not on mouse embryo cells. A hamster-tropic nonfocus-forming helper virus was also found in the viral stocks. These hamster-tropic viruses are not immunologically related to the murine viruses in the original inoculum but appear to represent indigenous C-type RNA viruses of the hamster.