Fine-structure analyses of lipid-protein and protein-protein interactions of gag protein p19 of the avian sarcoma and leukemia viruses by cyanogen bromide mapping.

In avian sarcoma and leukemia viruses, the gag protein p19 functions structurally as a matrix protein, connecting internal components with the viral envelope. We have used a combination of in situ cross-linking and peptide mapping to localize within p19 the regions responsible for two major interactions in this complex, p19 with lipid and p19 with p19. Lipid-protein cross-links were localized near the amino terminus within the first 35 amino acids of the polypeptide. Homotypic protein-protein disulfide bridges were found to originate from near the carboxy terminus of p19, from cysteine residues at amino acids 111 and 153. These results suggest that p19 is divided into domains with distinct functions. The peptide maps constructed for p19, and for the related proteins p23 in avian sarcoma and leukemia viruses and p19 beta in recombinant avian sarcoma viruses, should serve as useful tools for other types of studies involving these proteins.