The type C retrovirus simian T-lymphotropic virus type III (STLV-III) has been isolated recently from immunodeficient macaque monkeys at the New England Regional Primate Research Center. The present studies were done to define the in vitro growth characteristics of this agent. STLV-III replicates efficiently in interleukin 2-dependent T-cell cultures of macaque peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL), less efficiently in such cultures of human and gibbon PBL, and inefficiently in baboon PBL. No replication, as assessed by measuring reverse transcriptase activity in these culture supernatants, could be detected in similarly maintained cultures of chimpanzee, squirrel monkey, and cotton-top tamarin PBL. Like the human acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) virus, human T-cell lymphotropic virus III/lymphadenopathy-associated virus (HTLV-III/LAV), STLV-III replicates in T4+ but not T8+ lymphocytes and its infection of macaque and human lymphocytes can be blocked with monoclonal anti-T4 antibodies. STLV-III differs from the human AIDS virus, however, in its apparent inability to grow in the Epstein-Barr virus-transformed B lymphocytes tested, the differing range of nonhuman primate T-cell populations that support its growth, and its less striking toxicity for T lymphocytes. These studies provide further characterization of an agent that will be extremely important in facilitating the development of vaccines and antiviral therapy for AIDS.