Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-specified DNA polymerase was purified from P3HR-1 cells, a Burkitt lymphoma EBV producer cell line, treated with phorbol-12,13-dibutyrate (PDB) and n-butyrate. Its inhibition by aphidicolin, phosphonoformate (PFA) and 5'-GMP was examined. Aphidicolin could inhibit EBV DNA polymerase competitively with respect to dATP and dCTP and noncompetitively with respect to dGTP and dTTP; whereas 5'-GMP was a noncompetitive inhibitor with respect to all four dNTPs. Combinations of aphidicolin and PFA, or PFA and 5'-GMP, produced a mutually exclusive inhibition pattern of EBV DNA polymerase that suggested that the binding sites of these compounds on the enzyme molecule are kinetically overlapping.