Replication-defective Friend murine leukemia virus particles containing uncleaved gag polyproteins and decreased levels of envelope glycoprotein

Mutants of murine leukemia viruses and retroviral replication

The analysis of retroviral mutants has played a critical role in the development of our understanding of the complex viral life cycle. The most fundamental result of that analysis has been the definition of the replication functions encoded by the viruses. From a biochemical examination of a particular step in the life cycle it is difficult to determine, for example, whether that step is catalyzed by a viral or a host enzyme; but the isolation of a viral mutant defective in that step can firmly establish that a viral function is involved. In this way many facts about the viruses have been established. We know that reverse transcriptase is encoded by the virus; that RNAase H and DNA polymerase activities reside on the same gene product; that processing of many precursor proteins is mediated by a viral proteinase; and that establishment of the integrated provirus requires a viral protein. The list of functions mediated by viral enzymes has largely been defined by the mutants isolated and studied in various laboratories. The second significant result of the studies of viral mutants has been the assignation of the replication functions to particular viral genes, and then more specifically to particular domains of these genes. Mutants and viral variants have been essential in the determination, for example, that the gag protein is the critical gene product for the assembly of a virion particle; that the env protein is the determinant of species specificity of infection; or that the LTR is a major determinant of tissue tropism and leukemogenicity. The subdivisions of functions within a given gene have similarly hinged on mutants. Genetic mapping was needed to establish that P30 is the most important region for assembly; that the proteinase and integrase functions reside, respectively, in the 5' and 3' portions of the pol gene; and that the glycosylated gag protein is dispensable for replication. A third important area of knowledge has depended heavily on viral mutants: the determination of host functions and proteins that interact with viral proteins. Variant viruses with altered or restricted host ranges serve to define differences between pairs of different host cells, and the mapping of the viral mutations serves to define the viral protein important in that interaction with the host. These studies are only in their infancy, but it is clear that substantial efforts will be made to further analyze these host functions.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Variation in p30-related proteins in gross virus-induced tumor cell lines derived from H-2 congenic mice

p30-related proteins were examined in three in vitro--passaged Gross virus--induced cell lines derived from mice congenic at the H-2 complex: BALB.K-gv-1 (H-2k) (BkGV1), which produces infectious, oncogenic virus, and BALB.B-gv-1 (H-2b) (BbGV1) and BALB/c-gv-1 (H-2d) (BdGV1), which stopped producing infectious virus early in their passage history. The producer BkGV1 line made p30 and its expected precursors. BbGV1 and BdGV1 cells had multiple changes in p30-related protein expression. BbGV1 cells (i) synthesized a truncated gag precursor polyprotein of ca. 47 kilodaltons, (ii) expressed fewer p30-related molecules per cell on their surface than BkGV1 cells, (iii) produced functional reverse transcriptase, and (iv) budded morphologically mature virions which were neither infectious nor oncogenic. BdGV1 cells (i) produced no p30 but expressed some high-molecular-weight proteins with p30 determinants, (ii) expressed fewer p30-related determinants on their surface than BbGV1 cells, and (iii) harbored immature intracisternal viral particles (type A) but did not exhibit budding virions.

Phenotypic heterogeneity of leukemias associated with Friend MuLV infection: studies on T-cell lymphomas and null cell leukemias in euthymic and thymus-deficient mice

The development of leukemia/lymphoma in euthymic and congenitally thymus-deficient (nude) mice infected with Friend murine leukemia virus (Friend MuLV) was investigated; both groups developed fatal leukemias within 2-4 months post-infection but the gross and micropathology of lymphoid organs, coupled with cell-surface marker studies indicated the development of two distinct forms of disease. In euthymic mice one group developed lymphosarcomas manifested by thymoma, hepatosplenomegaly and lymphadenopathy whereas the second group developed splenic leukemias manifested only by hepatosplenomegaly. Analysis of surface markers on spleen cells from mice experiencing lymphosarcomas indicated that the majority of cells were positive for Thy 1.2, Moloney cell surface antigen (MCSA), and viral-coded gp70 and p30 antigens but negative for surface immunoglobulin (sIg). Euthymic mice experiencing splenic leukemias yielded spleen cells negative for Thy 1.2, sIg, and MCSA but positive for gp70 and p30. Nude mice uniformly developed splenic leukemias, spleen cells from which were Thy 1.2, MCSA, gp70 and p30 negative, although the proportion of sIg positive cells was higher than that observed in euthymic mice experiencing splenic leukemias. No correlation between the development of lymphosarcoma vs splenic leukemia and a pattern of ecotropic and/or xenotropic MuLV expression was observed. While ecotropic MuLV expression was equivalent in both euthymic and athymic mice, euthymic mice expressed approx. 10-fold higher levels of xenotropic MuLV than nude mice, however. Collectively the data suggest that infection of mice with Friend MuLV results in the development of two possible forms of disease, lymphosarcoma involving T cells vs splenic leukemia involving B and/or null cells.