Molecular Cloning and Analysis of the Endogenous Retrovirus Chemically Induced from RFM/Un Mouse Cell Cultures

Abstract

We molecularly cloned and analyzed an N-tropic ecotropic retrovirus induced with iododeoxyuridine from RFM/Un mouse cell cultures. Based on the restriction map, the RFM/Un virus appears to be indistinguishable from other induced N-tropic retroviruses. A nucleotide sequence analysis of the long terminal repeat of an infectious clone revealed structural features characteristic of murine type C retrovirus long terminal repeats. The U3 region of the RFM/Un virus long terminal repeat, however, contained no short sequence duplication or insertion found in other murine leukemia virus isolates.