Structure and infectivity of integrated murine leukemia virus DNA.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to D R Lowy.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Unintegrated viral DNA was isolated via the Hirt procedure from mouse fibroblasts newly infected with Friend murine leukemia virus (F-MuLV) clone 201, a biologically cloned helper virus isolated from stocks of F-MuLV complex. A physical map of the unintegrated in vivo linear viral DNA was generated for several restriction endonucleases. The supercoiled viral DNA was digested with EcoRI, which cleaved the viral DNA at a unique site. The linearized viral DNA was then inserted into lambda gtWES.lambda B at the EcoRI site and cloned in an approved EK2 host. Eight independent lambda-mouse recombinants were identified as containing F-MuLV DNA inserts by hybridization with F-MuLV 32P-labeled complementary DNA. One of the F-MuLV DNA inserts was 9.1 kilobases (kb) and had the same restriction enzyme sites as the unintegrated linear F-MuLV DNA. Six inserts were 8.5 kb; each lacked a single copy of the terminally redundant sequences of the unintegrated linear viral DNA. One insert was 8.2 kb and contained a 0.9-kb deletion. After digestion with EcoRI, one recombinant DNA preparation containing an 8.5-kb insert was infectious for NIH 3T3 cells. Undigested recombinant DNA was not infectious. The infectivity of the EcoRI-digested DNA followed multihit kinetics, indicating that more than one molecule was required to register as an infectious unit. The virus isolated from this transfection (F-MuLV-57) was NB-ecotropic, helper-independent, and formed XC plaques. Inoculation of this virus into newborn NIH Swiss mice induced leukemia and splenomegaly in greater than 90% of animals within 3 to 4 weeks. The gross and microscopic abnormalities induced by F-MuLV clone 57 were identical to those seen with the original parent stocks of F-MuLV clone 201. These results indicate that this helper-independent F-MuLV can induce a rapid nonthymic leukemia in the absence of the spleen focus-forming virus.
Three species of unintegrated supercoiled Harvey sarcoma virus DNA (6.6, 6.0, and 5.4 kilobase pairs) have been molecularly cloned from Harvey sarcoma virus-infected cells. On the basis of restriction enzyme analyses, the 6.6- and 6.0-kilobase pair viral DNAs contain two and one copies, respectively, of a 650-base pair DNA segment which contains sequences present at the 3' and 5' termini of the viral genome. R-loop structures formed between Moloney leukemia virus RNA and the cloned Harvey sarcoma virus DNA indicated that about 500 base pairs of the 650-base pair repeating segment was complementary to the 3' end of the viral RNA. During amplification in the Escherichia coli host, some recombinants containing the 6.6- or the 6.0-kilobase pair Harvey sarcoma virus DNA insert acquired or lost the complete 650-base pair DNA segment. These changes occurred in both recA+ and recA- E. coli.
The comparative infectivity of Harvey murine sarcoma virus (Ha-MuSV) DNA for NIH 3T3 cells was determined for supercoiled Ha-MuSV DNA molecularly cloned in lambda phage and pBR322 at its unique EcoRI site (which is located near the middle of the 6-kilobase pair [kbp] unintegrated linear viral DNA) and for two cloned subgenomic fragments: one was 3.8 kbp and lacked about 1 kbp from each side of the EcoRI site, and the second did not contain the 3 kbp of the unintegrated linear viral DNA located on the 3' side of the EcoRI site. Each subgenomic DNA induced foci of transformed cells, but with a lower relative efficiency then genomic DNA. Transfection with intact vector Ha-MuSV DNA yielded results similar to those obtained after separation of Ha-MuSV DNA from vector DNA. Cells lines were then derived from individual foci transformed with each type of viral DNA. Focus-forming virus was recovered from transformed cells after superinfection with a helper-independent virus, but the efficiency varied by several orders of magnitude. For several transformed lines, the efficiency of recovery of focus-forming virus was correlated with the structure of the Ha-MuSV DNA in the cells before superinfection. When 32P-labeled Ha-MuSV DNA probes specific for sequences on either the 3' or 5' side of the EcoRI site were used to analyze the viral RNA in the transformed cell lines, all lines were found to hybridize with the 5' probe, but some lines did not hybridize with the 3' probe. The transformed lines contained high levels of the Ha-MuSV-coded p21 or its associated GDP-binding activity. We conclude that the transforming region and the sequences that code for the viral p21 protein are both located within the 2 kilobases closest to the 5' end of the Ha-MuSV genome.
Friend murine leukemia virus (G-MuLV) is a helper-independent, type C retrovirus isolated from stocks of Friend virus complex (spleen focus-forming virus plus MuLV). In cell culture, F-MuLV has an ecotropic and NB-tropic host range and causes XC cells to fuse. When injected into newborn NIH Swiss mice, F-MuLV produces hepatosplenomegaly, severe anemia, and numerous circulating hematopoietic precursors in the peripheral blood with normal thymus and lymph nodes after 3 to 6 weeks. Recently, we molecularly cloned an 8.5-kilobase pair (kbp) form of F-MuLV DNA from which we could recover the pathogenic F-MuLV virus by DNA transfection of NIH 3T3 cells. From this molecularly cloned F-MuLV DNA, we have now subcloned in pBR322 a 4.1-kbp HindIII fragment which contains in continuity 3.0 kbp from the 3' terminus (env and c region), 0.6 kbp of the terminal repeat sequences, and 0.5 kbp from the 5'terminus of the viral RNA (genome). NIH 3T3 fibroblasts were transfected with this DNA fragment an then infected with the wild mouse amphotropic retrovirus (cl 1504-A). In cell culture, 1504-A is a helper-independent type C virus which has an N-tropic host range and does not cause fusion of XC cells. When injected into newborn NIH Swiss mice, 1504-A does not produce splenomegaly or thymic enlargement in mice held for up to 8 months. The transfection with the F-MuLV fragment and the infection with 1504-A consistently yielded virus preparations that were XC positive. From such virus stocks we were able to isolate both helper-independent and replication-defective XC-positive viruses. The helper-independent virus was shown to be a recombinant virus since it contains a gp70 molecule derived at least in part from F-MuLV and a specific gag precursor derived from 1504-A as determined by radioactive immune precipitation assays. When injected into newborn Swiss mice, the recombinant helper-independent virus caused hepatosplenomegaly in approximately 50% of the mice in 6 to 8 weeks. The histology of the diseased splenic tissue was indistinguishable from that seen in the disease caused by the whole F-MuLV. The replication-defective virus could be pseudotyped with new 1504-A virus, and this viral complex also caused the F-MuLV disease picture when the complex was injected into newborn Swiss mice. We conclude that the genetic information responsible for the pathogenicity of F-MuLV is contained within the 4.1-kbp DNA fragment, which includes env gene sequences, the terminal repeat sequences, and the c region sequences of the F-MuLV genome.
Detailed restriction endonuclease maps were developed for Harvey murine sarcoma virus (Ha-MuSV) DNA (clone H-1), molecularly closed at its unique EcoRI site in pBR322, for three nonoverlapping subgenomic HindIII clones which together span the entire H-1 clone and for a molecularly cloned DNA copy of a portion of rat 30S RNA (which represents the majority of the rat genetic sequences in Ha-MuSV). Molecular hybridization of the 30S clone to small restriction fragments of clone H-1 revealed a 0.9-to-1.0-kilobase pair region in the 5' half of the Ha-MuSV genome not homologous to the 30S clone, although the 30S clone did contain related sequences in Ha-MuSV on both sides of this nonhomologous region. By using cloned sequences from a segment of the Ha-MuSV nonhomology region as a probe for hybridization to Southern blots of DNA from rat, mouse, bat, and chicken cells, one to three bands were detected in DNA of each species. By contrast, the 30S clone DNA was highly related to many sequences in rat DNA, partially related to fewer mouse DNA sequences, and homologous only to one to three bands in bat and chicken DNA. Earlier work had shown that the 5' half of the Ha-MuSV genome coded for transformation and for the viral p21 protein (Chang et al., J. Virol. 35: 76--92, 1980; Wei et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., in press). We used two subgenomic HindIII clones whose shared HindIII site mapped within the 5' region of clone H-1 nonhomologous to the 30S clone to test whether the nonhomologous segment might encode the transforming and p21 functions. Although neither of the subgenomic HindIII fragments by themselves induced transformation, ligation of these two nontransforming DNAs to each other did restore p21-mediated transformation. A conclusion consistent with these results is that a region in the 5' half of the Ha-MuSV genome evolutionarily distinct from and not present in rat 30S RNA is essential for transformation and for p21 encoding.
Supercoiled Harvey sarcoma virus (Ha-SV) DNA was extracted from newly infected cells by the Hirt procedure, enriched by preparative agarose gel electrophoresis, and digested with EcoRI, which cleaved the viral DNA at a unique site. The linearized Ha-SV DNA was then inserted into lambda gtWESlambda B at the EcoRI site and cloned in an approved EK2 host. Ha-SV DNA inserts from six independently derived recombinant clones have been analyzed by restriction endonuclease digestion, molecular hybridization, electron microscopy, and infectivity. Four of the Ha-SV DNA inserts were identical, contained about 6.0 kilobase pairs (kbp), and comigrated in agarose gels with the infectious, unintegrated, linear Ha-SV DNA. One insert was approximately 0.65 kbp smaller (5.35 kbp) and one was approximately 0.65 kpb larger (6.65 kpb) than the 6.0 kpb inserts. R-looping with Ha-SV RNA revealed that the small (5.35 kbp) insert contained one copy of the Ha-SV RNA. Preliminary restriction endonuclease digestion of the recombinant DNAs suggested that the middle-size inserts contained a 0.65-kbp tandem duplication of sequences present only one in the small-size insert; this duplication corresponded to the 0.65-kpb terminal duplication of the unintegrated linear Ha-SV DNA. The large-size insert apparently contained a tandem triplication of these terminally located sequences. DNA of all three sized inserts induced foci in NIH 3T3 cells, and focus-forming activity could be rescued from the transformed cells by superinfection with helper virus. Infectivity followed single-hit kinetics, suggesting that the foci were induced by a single molecule.
DNA from virus-negative AKR mouse embryo cells is infectious for NIH 3T3 cells if the transfected cells are treated with 5-iododeoxyuridine (IdUrd) either before or after addition of the DNA. The virus isolated after transfection of the AKR DNA is an ecotropic murine leukemia virus (MuLV) indistinguishable from endogenous AKR MuLV. The AKR DNA is not infectious in the absence of IdUrd treatment of the recipient cells. DNA from AKR cells treated with IdUrd before DNA isolation is not infectious unless the recipient cells have been treated with IdUrd. Transfected DNA from NIH mouse cells is not infectious even when the recipient cells have been treated with IdUrd. DNA from cells chronically infected with AKR MuLV or Rauscher MuLV is infectious with or without IdUrd treatment of the recipient cells, but the infectivity is not enhanced by IdUrd. The results indicate that the endogenous AKR MuLV DNA genome is potentially infectious. The data are consistent with an IdUrd-sensitive restriction in the recipient NIH 3T3 cells that prevents viral replication from endogenous AKR MuLV DNA but does not prevent viral replication from MuLV DNA of productively infected cells.
Dexamethasone (3 X 10(-10) to 3 X 10(-6) M) induced foci of morphologically transformed cells in a small proportion of a mink cell line that contains the Moloney murine sarcoma viral genome (S+L-). The induction was glucocorticoid specific, since other steroids with glucocorticoid activity (prednisolone, cortisol, and aldosterone) induced foci with an efficiency that paralleled their glucocorticoid activity, and steroids lacking glucocorticoid activity (17B-estradiol, testosterone, and progesterone) failed to induce foci. Viral antigen, as measured by specific immunofluorescence, was localized to the foci. The induction of foci by dexamethasone (3 X 10(-7)) was accompanied by an approximately 10-fold increase in intracellular Moloney murine sarcoma virus-specific RNA and viral p30 antigen. Removal of dexamethasone was followed by the disappearance of foci and a decrease in viral RNA and p30. In this cell system, therefore, glucocorticoids can affect the intracellular levels of type C viral RNA and protein.
We have studied the unintegrated infectious DNA of Harvey sarcoma virus (Ha-SV) and Moloney leukemia virus (Mo-MuLV). The source of infectious viral DNA was the Hirt supernatant fraction from cells acutely infected with Ha-SV and Mo-MuLV. To obtain a direct quantitative assay for infectious viral DNA, recipient mouse cells were first exposed to calcium phosphate-precipitated viral DNA and then treated with dimethyl sulfoxide. Infectivity was monitored by focus formation for Ha-SV and XC plaque formation for Mo-MuLV. The viral DNA titration pattern followed single-hit kinetics for both foci and plaques, indicating that a single molecule carried information for each function. Focus-forming and plaque-forming activity were present in different molecules, since these two biological activities could be separated from each other by agarose gel electrophoresis. The focus-forming molecule was linear DNA with a molecular weight of about 4 x 10(6) daltons. The focus-forming activity of the viral DNA was sensitive to EcoRI and resistant to XhoI restriction endonucleases, whereas the plaque-forming activity was resistant to EcoRI and sensitive to XhoI. The generation of helper-independent foci indicates that Ha-SV DNA can transform mouse cells in the absence of helper virus or its proteins.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
DNA of the AKR mouse contains a set of murine leukemia virus sequences that are not present in DNA of the NIH Swiss mouse. NIH mice partially congenic for the AKR murine-leukemia-virus-inducing locus Akv-1 contain this set of sequences, and, in a three-point cross segregating for Akv-1 on an NIH background, the sequences segregated with Akv-1. It is concluded that the Akv-1 locus contains viral sequences.
Utilizing a single-stranded [3H]DNA probe highly representative of AKR viral 70S RNA, we have performed association kinetics experiments with cellular DNA in vast excess from 3 high-, 5 low- and 4 non-virus-yielding mouse strains. Our hybridization studies indicate that in the strains so far tested, the complete genome of the AKR-type MLV is present in the DNA of the embryos of both high- and low-virus-yielding mouse strains, while DNA of non-virus strains contains only a part of the genome. Furthermore, at least two populations of virus-specific DNA sequences can be identified (more abundant and less abundant species) according to their rate of association. Low-virus-yielding mouse strains contain a smaller number (1-2 copies) of the less abundant species, and thus a lower number of complete viral genome than do high-virus strains (3-4 copies). Non-virus-yielding strains are lacking these less abundant sequences in their genome. DNA from wild Mus musculus also contained viral sequences, the sample tested showing association kinetics identical to the non-virus-producing strains. Thus there is a good correlation between completeness of the AKR-type MLV genome in cellular DNA and the capacity of the cells to release AKR-type MLV. Mice of a non-virus-yielding strain made partially congenic for the AKR virus-inducing locus Akv-1 contained the complete virus genome, confirming that this locus consists of structural genes of the virus.
The AKR mouse has a high titer of murine leukemia virus early in life, and virus-negative cells derived from embryos of this mouse strain can be activated to yield murine leukemia virus by treatment with 5-iododeoxyuridine. In contrast to this high-virus strain, the NIH Swiss mouse has a low incidence of leukemia and no murine leukemia virus has been isolated from it (virus-negative). We have investigated this difference between AKR and NIH mice by examining the sequences specific for murine leukemia virus in nucleic acids of these mice. A single-stranded viral-DNA probe synthesized in vitro using murine-leukemia-virus from the AKR mouse contains at least 87% of the sequences present in the 70S viral RNA; most of these sequences are in proportions similar to their content in the 70S RNA. Using this probe in nucleic acid hybridization experiments, we have shown that NIH-mouse-cell DNA and AKR-mouse-cell DNA differ with respect to sequences specific for AKR murine-leukemia-virus: NIH-mouse-cell DNA lacks some of the virus-specific sequences present in AKR-mouse-cell DNA, and there are two distinct sets of virus-specific sequences in AKR-mouse-cell DNA, whereas there is only one set in NIH-mouse-cell DNA.RNA from virus-negative AKR-mouse cells grown in tissue culture contains some, but not all, virus-specific RNA sequences; however, within 48 hr after initiating treatment of these cells with 5-iododeoxyuridine, the complete viral genome is represented in cellular RNA.
Studies with a single-stranded DNA probe complementary to the RNA of mouse-tropic AKR murine leukemia virus indicate that the complete genome of the AKR-type murine leukemia virus is present in the DNA of high- and low-virus-yielding mouse strains, while DNA of non-virus-yielding strains contains only a part of the genome. Furthermore, in those strains where the genome is complete, two populations of virus-specific DNA sequences can be identified (more abundant and less abundant species) according to their rate of association with the probe. Low-virus-yielding mouse strains contain fewer copies of the less abundant species and, consequently, fewer complete viral genomes than do high-virus-yielding strains. Thus, in the ten strains tested, there is a good correlation between completeness of the genome of AKR-type murine leukemia virus in cellular DNA and the capacity of the cells to release infectious AKR-type murine leukemia virus. Moreover, the number of complete viral genomes correlates with the frequency of infectious virus production by virus-positive strains. DNA from wild Mus musculus also contained viral sequences, the sample tested showing reassociation kinetics identical to the non-virus-producing strains.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Poly(1-vinyluracil) and poly(9-vinyladenine), as well as the corresponding polynucleotides poly(uridylate) and poly(adenylate), inhibit acute murine leukemia virus infection in mouse-embryo cells, but they do not significantly inhibit the replication of Sindbis and vesicular stomatitis viruses. The polymers were most effective as inhibitors when added during an early stage of virus replication. Effects of vinyl polymers on the RNA-dependent DNA polymerase from the virions of murine leukemia virus were also observed.
Genetic information of murine leukemia viruses is known to be present in essentially all mice. Delineation of the biological effects of the expression of this genetic information is complicated by the difficulty in determining whether the presence of a viral antigen in a tissue is the result of gene activation that occurs independently in a large number of cells, proliferation of antigen-positive cells, or of spread of infectious virus from a few cells. This problem is further complicated by the difficulty in determining whether activation of virus genetic material is the cause or result of a biological phenomenon, such as malignancy. Further understanding of the activation of virus genes in normal cells is of great importance in answering these questions. In vitro techniques were used for the study of induction of virus. Virus-negative cell lines were established from embryos of AKR mice, which in vivo produce high titers of infectious murine leukemia virus. It was found that 5-iododeoxyuridine and 5-bromodeoxyuridine were potent inducers of virus synthesis in all clones and subclones of the AKR cells tested. In addition to establishing that the complete viral genome is a heritable component of all cells of the AKR mouse, these studies of virus activation provide novel approaches to a number of important problems in the biology of leukemia viruses.