Different genes control the susceptibility of mice to Moloney or Abelson murine leukemia viruses.

The susceptibility of mice to lymphoma induction by Moloney or Abelson murine leukemia virus has been compared in BALB/c, C57BL/6, and BALB/cXC57BL/6 recombinant inbred strains. BALB/c mice were found to be susceptible to lymphoma induction by either virus, and C57BL/6 mice were found to be relatively resistant to lymphoma induction by either virus. The genes that control these patterns of susceptibility to each virus are not the same because susceptibility to each virus segregated independently in CXB recombinant inbred strains. We also found, as reported by Cook (W. Cook, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 79:2917-2921, 1982), when injected intrathymically that Abelson murine leukemia virus rapidly induced thymomas in weanling B6 mice. Examination of the cellular phenotypes of the tumors induced by Abelson murine leukemia virus or by Moloney murine leukemia virus indicated that different lymphocyte subpopulations were the targets for tumor induction by each virus.