Expression of a mouse long terminal repeat is cell cycle-linked.

The expression of the long terminal repeat (LTR) of intracisternal A particle retroviral sequences which are endogenous to the mouse genome has been shown to be linked to the early G1 phase of the cell cycle in Friend erythroleukemia cells synchronized by density arrest and also in logarithmically growing cells fractionated into cell-cycle compartments by centrifugal elutriation. Regions of homology were found in comparing the LTR sequence to a repetitive Syrian hamster sequence specifically expressed in early G1 in hamster cells.