Divergence of baboon endogenous type C virogenes in primates: genomic viral RNA in molecular hybridization experiments.

RNA purified from two related RNA tumor viruses, one isolated from a baboon, Papio anubis, and the second from cultured blood leukocytes of a patient with acute myelogenous leukemia, was labeled with 125I and hybridized to DNA from different primates. RNA from both viruses showed maximum sequence homology with genes in baboons and little homology with genes of humans. The results confirm earlier suggestions that both viruses originated by transcription of baboon virogenes, and that one was transmitted to humans in nature. Hybridization of the viral RNA to cell DNA followed complicated kinetic patterns, indicating the presence of both repeated and infrequent virogene elements. This conclusion was verified in experiments using varied DNA:RNA ratios. It is proposed that virogenes, though composed of genes repeated 10 times or more, consist of some sequences more preferentially conserved than others. The non-uniformity of virogene sequence conservation limits the use of viral probes in studies concerning certain aspects of virogene evolution.