Type C viruses from Kirsten sarcoma-transformed mink cells co-cultivated with primate cells and expressing p30 antigens related to feline leukemia virus.

Two type C viruses with new antigenic and biological properties were isolated by co-cultivating secondary cell strains established from the kidneys of a baboon (Papio papio) and a patas monkey (Erythrocebus patas) with mink cells non-productively transformed by Kirsten sarcoma virus. Both new isolates (designated PP-1R and EP-1R) contain major structural proteins (p30) that are immunologically most closely related to the p30 proteins of feline leukemia viruses. The reverse transcriptases of both viruses, although antigenically related to polymerases of murine and rat type C viruses, are distinct from those of previously described type C viral groups. Both PP-1R and EP-1R can be transmitted to canine and feline cells and to sarcoma virus-transformed, but not normal, mink cells. Both viruses contain RNA genomes partially homologous to those of endogenous mouse and rat type C viruses and the Kirsten sarcoma virus. In addition, the RNA of PP-1R contains a portion of the nucleic acid sequences found in a type C virus isolated from the baboon species P. papio. We propose that both new isolates are genetic recombinants formed between endogenous primate type C viral genomes and sequences found in Kirsten sarcoma-transformed mink cells.