Molecular cloning of the Mason-Pfizer monkey virus genome: characterization and cloning of subgenomic fragments

Abstract

The molecular characterization of the proviral DNA genome of Mason-Pfizer monkey virus (M-PMV), the prototype D-type retrovirus, is described. An analysis of unintegrated viral DNAs present in acutely infected cells revealed open and closed circular molecules and linear species. The size of the M-PMV linear proviral DNA is determined to be 8.1 kbp in length. A preliminary screening of restriction enzymes indicated that many of those commonly used for cloning (EcoRI, SalI, ClaI, XhoI) did not cut the provirus. Digestion of a mixture of linear and circular forms of unintegrated DNA with HindIII produced a set of restriction fragments 2.3-3 kbp in length. These subgenomic fragments where cloned into the bacterial plasmid pAT153, and two classes of M-PMV subgenomic clones isolated. The first of these contained fragments that spanned the ends of the linear genome and presumably were derived from circular proviruses. Six of the seven clones in this class contained a single long terminal repeat (LTR), represented by pMP6, while the seventh, pMP9, contains two LTRs. Digestion of the latter clone with an enzyme that cleaves once within the LTR allowed the length of the M-PMV LTR to be determined as 350 bp. Both the LTR containing clones and the second class of subgenomic clones have been used in developing a detailed restriction map of the M-PMV proviral DNA and in orienting it with regard to transcription of viral RNA. Thus, pMP6/pMP9 contain sequences from the LTR-gag region of the genome and the second class of subclones (represented by pMP1) span the env-coding region. No clones containing the pol-coding region have been isolated. In order to determine the nature of M-PMV-related endogenous sequences in the chromosomal DNA of Old World primates, EcoRI-digested primate DNA was hybridized at low stringency to the subgenomic clones and then washed under conditions of low, moderate, and high stringencies. Multiple sequences closely related to the LTR-gag region of the M-PMV genome, were detected. Sequences more distantly related to the env region were also found in Old World monkeys. Ape and human DNAs were shown to contain sequences related to the LTR-gag region of the M-PMV genome, but were only weakly detectable at low stringency.