Assembly of xenotropic murine leukaemia virus-related antigens from the surface of mouse L cells by vesicular stomatitis virus.

Two xenotropic murine leukaemia virus (XMuLV)-related proteins--a major envelope glycoprotein gp70 and a 90K protein (probably corresponding to the uncleaved envelope precursor)--were expressed on the surface of mouse L cells as demonstrated by lactoperoxidase-catalysed iodination and immunoprecipitation with anti-XMuLV serum. These two proteins out of many labelled cell surface proteins were selectively incorporated into vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) virions. Significant differences were found in the amounts of labelled XMuLV-related proteins between L cells and two cell lines infected with XMuLV (rabbit SIRC and lamb LKC cells). The two viral antigens represented only a small proportion of radioactivity on L cells. While in XMuLV-infected SIRC and LKC cells, the gp70 was the major labelled surface protein no detectable amounts of XMuLV-related 90K protein or of cell-specific proteins were found in these cells.