Characterization of two strains of avian sarcoma virus isolated from avian lymphatic leukosis virus-induced sarcomas.

Two replication-defective avian sarcoma viruses, S1 and S2, which were independently isolated from tumors of chickens inoculated with avian lymphatic leukosis virus (LLV) were characterized. The genomes of S1 and S2 contain src-related sequences and are, respectively, about 3.9 and 4.5 kilobases long. pp60src-related proteins with molecular weights of 62,000 (p62) were detected in cells infected with these viruses, and protein kinase activity was found to be associated with these proteins. No other viral proteins, such as gag, pol, and env gene products, were detected. These results suggested that the c-src sequence in normal chicken cells was incorporated into LLV genomes by recombination at the expense of most of the viral genes to generate highly defective new sarcoma viruses.